Revenge-Filled Apple
by Rainbowkittyblossomwings
Summary: Medieval fantasy AU. When an evil Dictator threatens Natsumi's family she is forced to flee into the forest to save her and her brother's life. Swearing revenge on the person who hurt her, she becomes determined to beat the person who attacked her. But revenge has many costs, and is she the only one who has sworn revenge? Based loosely on fairy tales.
1. The Forest

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**So somebody said they liked my AU stories. So I randomly pumped out an AU. I've only written 8 chapters at the moment but I have all chapters planned out.**

**It's based loosely on fairy tales. Each character has a fairy tale character that I steal ideas from basically. Most of them I think fit, except Dororo and Koyuki's.**

**Don't get excited for them basically because I couldn't think of much and got lazy.**

**The first two chapters are kind of slow in my opinion? But idk what you'll think.**

**Special thanks to my beta reader RunwithscissorsXXXbattlescars who I'm making edit this.**

* * *

"Sis... are you sure this is the right way to go?"

Dressed in rags and finally getting cold, Fuyuki's idea of adventure seemed to be dying down into just boredom.

"It... It might be..." Natsumi clutched Fuyuki's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. They had both been through a lot. It made sense for everything to finally be catching up to him. "We'll be fine. I promise."

She had to accept the facts, though. They were lost. Lost in a terrible forest, one that they'd sought as shelter, and now with no way out.

"We'll find Dad soon. Maybe he went into the same forest." Natsumi smiled at Fuyuki, trying to cheer him up.

"And Mom, too, right? We'll find Mom, too..." Fuyuki shivered for a moment from the cold.

"Yeah. Mom, too." Natsumi agreed. She lifted up her skirt to step over a log.

The two of them were alone without parents. Almost like that one story, "Hansel and Gretel," lost in a forest, abandoned by everything. That was them.

_Except silly fairy tales like that don't exist, _Natsumi thought to herself._ If they did, I'd be more ignorant of our situation._

She wasn't oblivious, but she also still had hope. Which, if things proved to be going as badly as they were, would prove to be Fuyuki's and her downfall.

_I can't think about that right now. I need to get Fuyuki to safety, _she thought, clutching her brother's hand tightly.

She had never done much for herself. She had always been handed everything on a silver platter. Natsumi didn't know how to keep her brother from any threats, especially the threat of a bad sense of direction.

She had always wished for freedom in her old life, but never expecting to get it quite like she had.

She, of course, never dreamed the previous day that she would become dressed in rags and lost in the woods with only her brother as a companion.

She hadn't prepared at all. Hadn't researched any maps, didn't know a thing about surviving a forest. It hadn't ocurred to her until now that those things might be useful.

A couple of birds landed on a tree to look at her, maybe to gawk about the sad condition she was in as she approached a stream. She wondered if she should wade through it or follow it.

Would she get her dress wet? No, it didn't really matter if she did. It wasn't like her gown of rags was important to her. She had grabbed it on the fly.

_Scram, birds,_ she thought to herself. She didn't want them to mock her in her pitiful state. It already felt like they were watching her every move.

"Hey, look! Birds!" Fuyuki stated. "At least we know that there are bugs here. We won't starve if something happens and we stay lost."

"Gross. I'm not eating bugs," Natsumi refused. "I have a much higher palette than that."

"But it might teach us more about the world around us if we could experience the same world - "

"This isn't a fun little tour. We're frigging lost, Fuyuki!" she finally snapped, admitting she had no idea where they were going.

"Maybe... Maybe that's a good thing," he said quietly. "If we got lost in this forest, after all, the soldiers will surely be lost if they follow us."

Natsumi quieted down. She knew what Fuyuki said was right. Being lost might have just saved their lives.

"Do you want to stop for the night? I'm pretty tired," he said. Natsumi nodded numbly. It had been the longest day in history for her.

And she was out of any idea of how to get out of this forest. She didn't want it to be her new home, but that would be much preferred over death.

* * *

She used to be something. Something important. Something loved by the people.

That was what Natsumi thought about as she stoked the fire with a stick. She stayed quiet, not knowing what to tell Fuyuki.

"It'll be okay, sis. We'll find Mom eventually," Fuyuki tried to calm her. Natsumi tried not to cry.

"Of course we will. Of course we will," she agreed.

"You saw her run off, right? From the attack?" Fuyuki smiled. "Mom was strong, so she'll find us in no time."

"Same as Dad." Natsumi gave him another grin. It was their thing that had just started up after their escape, reminding each other about the other parent. It was their teasing game. And the game that kept them reminded of their family.

* * *

She had been walking through the courtyard when the attack happened, dressed in her usual fine dresses. No bell was rung to signal an attack. Nothing warned them that the servants in their home were being slaughtered.

It just _happened_.

There was nothing majestic about it. No magic saved any lives, no hero came and saved Natsumi at the last minute.

Instead she had to watch, and finally flee. She managed to catch up with her brother and escape.

Running, turning their backs on everything they loved, was the only thing that saved either of them.

Natsumi still remembered the cold, heartless face of the man who had led the attack. She knew it would haunt her nightmares.

They weren't simply lost. They didn't even know where they were going. They were just running. Perhaps they'd be running forever. Natsumi did not know. She just wanted safety again, and to live the fine life that she once lived.

* * *

Fuyuki yawned, "Maybe it's time for you to go to bed. I'm going to see if I can hear any cool animal noises during the night. I'll tell you if I see Mom, okay?" Fuyuki told her, sitting by the fire.

"Okay. Tell me if you see Dad, too," Natsumi reminded him. He nodded, and Natsumi closed her eyes.

A tear drifted down her cheek.

She couldn't tell Fuyuki about the truth of that morning. It would kill him.

* * *

Walking through the courtyard, Natsumi sniffed at a flower. It was the morning before the attack.

"What a beautiful flower, Natsumi. Do you want me to have it picked for you?" her mother, Aki, asked, looking at her lovely daughter.

"No. I'm fine. I just like looking at them. They're put in a place that keeps them safe, yet all the plants look so free and beautiful. I envy them," Natsumi admitted.

"You're freer than most, Natsumi. You're quite privileged," her mom reminded her. Natsumi nodded. She continued walking with her mother in their usual mother-daughter stroll.

They had walked all the way back to the archway when Natsumi curtsied to the soldiers guarding their home. "Good day." She smiled at the strong soldiers she very much admired.

Instead of answering, they fell over. Blood was seeping out of their armor as they let out one last gurgle.

"AHHH!" Natsumi jumped closer to her Mother, but her Mother instead pushed her away.

"_Run_," she ordered. Natsumi's mind stalled for only a few seconds until she saw the enemy soldiers storming through the hallways and coming down the stairs of the archway.

Her mind in panic mode, she heard rustle of a bush behind her. Natsumi did as her mother had asked and ran, only looking behind her for a moment.

"Remember me?" a voice spoke to her mother.

Natsumi knew she would never ever forget that man's face. As she looked behind her, down the stairs, she saw her mother getting stabbed through the back by a man who would have been otherwise beautiful by her standards, with long luxurious purple hair and some strange glass circular object covering his green eyes. But what she would really never forget about him was his deranged smile as he murdered her mother in front of her. He stabbed her repeatedly in the back, no amount of stabbing being enough for him. All he did was laugh.

She ran, crashing into Fuyuki as she fled, and taking him with her on their flight to get out of the kingdom.

The sight of her mother's blood splattering over her dress dress would never leave Natsumi's mind. But the least she could do was spare Fuyuki of the thought.

She needed to keep Fuyuki happy, to keep him free and filled with hope.

He could not know that their mother was actually dead. Half of his hope about their family would be gone.

* * *

"F-Fuyuki?" Natsumi couldn't get to sleep as she rolled over.

"Hmm?" he murmured.

"Who... Who do you think attacked us?" she asked him.

"I heard from a servant that it was a conquerer from another kingdom. He rules over his kingdom like a dictator," Fuyuki answered. He always had all the answers, and was such an honest boy.

"Why... Why do you think he tried to hurt us?" Natsumi asked.

"Some conquerors want more power. He probably wanted our land," he told her. "Go to sleep, Sis. We need our strength to navigate out of this forest in the morning. And to find Mom."

Natsumi turned away from Fuyuki. She felt tears come down her cheeks. "And Dad," she added. "Dad, too..." Their Dad was the only family member alive; she knew this, but she would keep the secret from Fuyuki as long as she could.

"Dad, too." Fuyuki agreed, not having heard the cracking in Natsumi's voice.

And he let his sister go to sleep, with dreams of her former life.

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	2. Nightmares

**Another special thanks to my sister who is beta-reading and using her grammar skills for good instead of evil.**

**The second chapter goes with the third.**

**I've written 8 chapters already, but I'm not going to post them in one sitting. Do not fret.**

**This is just a fun little thing I decided to write.**

**(Also Giroro appears chapter 4, so you'll have to wait a bit.)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The deranged smile of the purple-haired man was everywhere in Natsumi's dream. His smile followed her as she ran. There was no escape from it. His laughter as he stabbed her mother echoed into her mind.

Whenever she ran somewhere, he was standing, a knife in his hand, his arm around her mother's as he continued to stab her repeatedly.

Natsumi hadn't had quite as vivid nightmares before, but she knew now what they were like.

"AHH!" She awoke screaming, scaring away whatever birds Fuyuki must have been listening to that night because he was wide awake.

"Sis..? Sis? Are you okay?" Fuyuki was by her side, holding her hand and squeezing it gently to try to bring her back to reality, to calm her.

Natsumi took a deep breath.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine... It's just... I saw him..." she admitted.

"Saw who?" Fuyuki asked.

"The man... just some guy..." She didn't want to tell Fuyuki about how his mother was dead. She couldn't tell Fuyuki about the man that haunted her nightmares.

"Hahaha. Sometimes dreams don't make any sense. Mine don't all the time," Fuyuki confided. "If you wake up fully, you'll realize that there's nothing to be scared about."

"Yeah... Sure.." Natsumi lied. "Why aren't you asleep, Fuyuki?"

"I was. But you woke me." Fuyuki's voice seemed calm, unshaking. It was unusual for him. A clear lie.

Natsumi was too sleepy to call him out on it. She just went back to bed.

* * *

Fuyuki waited for his sister to awaken in the morning so that they could continue their travels. After all that had happened to them, he still had hope that they would make it out of the forest.

He had to have hope. For her. He knew Natsumi took it upon herself to protect him, but something that she never realized was that Fuyuki wished to protect her, too.

He couldn't do that physically. He wasn't nearly as strong. But emotionally, he could support her just fine.

_That's why I'll be the one to keep watch, and I'll stay cheerful no matter the situation that we're in. I need to remind her that there's still hope and lift her off her feet._

_After all, there IS still hope... As long as we find Mom, everything will work out, _he reminded himself.

He reached for Natsumi's hand again as she tried to peer around and see if she could see anything besides trees.

He had to support her. Even if they were running from their own kingdom, he knew that they would someday return, and Natsumi would take her rightful place as queen.

_She must be taking it pretty hard. She used to be a Princess of one of the four kingdoms, yet now she's dressed in rags, lost in a forest, with no idea what to do, _Fuyuki thought to himself as his sister tried to climb a tree to get a better view.

She just kept falling.

_The rest of the four kingdoms are falling, too, I suppose. I heard rumors that the Kingdom of Trees, the second kingdom, was taken over by the conqueror who must have been the one to lead the attack on us..._

There were four kingdoms in the land, and for each kingdom, a princess that would someday rule. Fuyuki hadn't much enjoyed researching about that in his history lessons. He preferred researching the monsters that the four kingdoms had united to protect their people from. He was also quite interested in magic, but there weren't many books about it back in the castle library. _They're a superstitious bunch, I guess_.

Not like he'd see the castle library anytime soon.

_The monsters that the first kingdom has to protect us from are much more interesting... _He knew that if he was a soldier on the front lines, he probably wouldn't think the same thing. The Kingdom of the Sea he had heard had the most magic, which was something that interested him. He had heard the kingdom was underwater and filled with merfolk who had used their magic to make a giant wall that mostly protected the four kingdoms from the monsters on the other end, from the barren and unknown lands beyond.

Those were the lands that intrigued Fuyuki.

But he knew the monsters brought tragedy. Natsumi and his kingdom had been the third kingdom, and although it was far away from the monsters, they still sent soldiers to fight at the front lines and protect the beaches from anything that passed the wall.

The mythical beasts were hard to kill, though, and many men who survived the hardships were rewarded with knighthood.

Fuyuki sighed, letting himself live in his dreams of exploring the land instead of fighting it. Those dreams were much better than the reality that they were in now, lost and landless.

"Thinking about something, Fuyuki?" Natsumi asked, trying to brush off the dirt from her butt after she had fallen from yet another tree.

"Court life," he lied, "And how much I miss it."

Natsumi nodded. Back in court, she had gotten whatever she wanted, had been surrounded by groups of high class ladies and friends, had suitors everywhere, and had been given beautiful dresses.

Back when she had enjoyed court life, she had gone through some petty rebelliousness. She used to think she lacked freedom because she wasn't encouraged to train in swordplay with the other teenagers. Now she knew that freedom was something she only got when she felt safe, and not from when she was constantly on the lookout for shelter and food.

Trying to survive wasn't freedom. The only difference in her current situation was that her choices were now governed by survival instead of rules.

"We'll find a way out. I know it, Sis," Fuyuki promised when Natsumi seemed to be disappointed at the end of the day. The only thing she had achieved the whole day was catching a bird, but she had no idea how to cook it, she she'd set it free.

Now she was hungry, scared, and grumpy.

"I just wish... we could find Dad," Natsumi huffed, curling up into a little ball for warmth. "Night, Fuyuki."

"Night, Sis," Fuyuki lied. He had no intention of going to bed.

_You mean find Mom, too, Sis. Don't get too attached to the notion of finding Dad. After all... _Fuyuki tried not to close his eyes. Whenever he closed them, the flashbacks came of how a soldier working for the enemy had stabbed a sword through his father the king's chest. _He's already dead._

It was the reason he wasn't going to sleep. He didn't want to relive that moment.

He couldn't tell Natsumi, though. She'd be brokenhearted if one of their family members was dead.

_At least there's M__om, _he thought to himself as he pat Natsumi's shoulder.

They had to find their mother. She was the only hope they had.


	3. Court Jester

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**This chapter is mostly a flashback, and we get the first sight of any Keronian in this AU.**

**(And my mistake, this fic will be 26 chapters if my calculations are correct.)**

* * *

"Stupid frog!" Natsumi's voice awoke Keroro from his daydreaming.

"Yes, Master Natsumi?" Keroro's voice hardly shook anymore. He had gotten used to the princess's whims.

"Hmmm... try to climb up that curtain..." She ordered, pointing to a large and dangerously placed curtain above a window.

Keroro still hated the princess. She didn't even realize her orders were cruel. She just thought they were entertaining.

Of course, that was _why_ he was her personal court jester. For entertainment.

Not like he was willingly employed. It was much closer to slavery, what he lived, through.

Keroro tried to grab onto the slippery curtain and climb up it. However, being in no way agile, he fell down half way up.

That was when she laughed.

"You're so stupid! It's so easy to climb something like that!" Natsumi teased. She was much stronger than the frog, and also taller. Something tall to him might not be as tall to her.

Keroro tried not to glare at the laughing princess. Oh, how he hated this life.

_I have a lot more than other Keronians, though. I have a roof over my head and food every day. There's no reason I should be complaining, _Keroro thought to himself, thinking of the many other Keronians who got much crueler masters, lived in poverty, or were beaten by many instead of just one.

He was much luckier than them.

Still, he always asked himself the same question. Why did he have to be born a Keronian? Why him? Why couldn't someone else be?

The Keronians had always been prosecuted against by the Pekoponians, oppressed and weaker because of their smaller bodies. Any rumor that made them special was quickly crushed to dust - their ability to swim better, their much longer lifespans - well, maybe not the longer lifespans. That was the truth.

Rumor had it that the Pekoponians, or at least that was what the Keronians called their oppresses, started the slavery and pain of the Keronians because of their jealousy towards their longer lifespans.

Keroro believed it. Although, nowadays Keronians weren't slaves as much as lower than rats. Some were hurt every day, some starving to death because nobody would help them.

Keroro knew he was much luckier than most. After all, the princess had chosen him herself to entertain her.

Yet he didn't want that life at all. He didn't want to be a stupid frog.

* * *

The castle was beautiful, but it wasn't like he could roam freely through it. It wasn't like he got punished for wandering, it was just that the Pekoponians laughed at him and called him a fool.

They always thought he was stupid. That he would die if not for them.

Keroro could not admire the stone walls of the castle, the stone that the 3rd kingdom prized so highly. Their kingdom was called the Kingdom of Stone, for their strong walls and technological advancements.

However, the Keronian people called it the Kingdom of Ruin, for the cruelty that all humans showed the Keronians. The oppression was worst in the Third Kingdom, although it existed in all the others.

He had heard brief rumors that there was only one kingdom exempt from that rule - the Fourth Kingdom - which had had only one ruler to rule the lands ever since its creation. Someone with a longer lifespan than even Keronians.

The Kingdom of Justice was only a dream to him, though, a brief rumor... a flicker in the dark.

Dear god, did he hate this life.

* * *

He heard the words "stupid frog" day after day by the spoiled princess Natsumi.

_I hope somebody kills her, _he once wished. He knew that would never happen, though. Besides Natsumi's poor intolerance and cruelty towards "frogs" or Keronians, she was a fine princess learning to be a ruler - strong, beautiful, and very loved by the people.

She was very strong. Keroro knew that much as he rubbed his swollen cheek.

He hated his life. He hated it so much, but there was one thing he loved about living in the castle.

"Hey, Keroro. Do you want me to read you another book?" It was the Prince. Prince Fuyuki - Natsumi's younger brother, and Keroro's only friend.

He was the only person even the least bit kind to him in the castle.

"Sure, Master Fuyuki!" Keroro smiled.

"Okay. I'm going to read you another historic book about Keronians, then. Keronians are so cool!" Fuyuki's eyes sparkled in interest.

Keroro didn't know how to read. He'd never been allowed to learn. He was supposed to be a stupid frog, after all; but he enjoyed when Fuyuki, the more bookwormy and kind prince, read to him.

He enjoyed Fuyuki's company. Fuyuki was the kindest friend he had ever had.

And that was the reason Keroro never left or ran away from the castle.

* * *

It was a summer morning when it happened. Keroro was sleeping in, allowed to do as much since he was only a fool.

The walls began shaking.

"Huh?" Keroro got out of bed and peered out of his window. Soldiers dressed in black armor pounded on the walls.

They were under siege. They were being attacked by one of the kingdoms that they had thought they had an alliance with.

Keroro didn't waste any time. He wasn't as stupid as people thought. He ran out of his bed.

_This is my chance! The castle is going to fall! I can finally get away from Master Natsumi! _The castle door fell and soldiers flooded in. Fancy ladies and lads of the court fled as they were murdered right around him. Keroro, being much shorter than most, fled past them all, unnoticed.

Keroro was right at the secret exit of the servants' quarters when he stopped in his tracks.

_I can't leave, though. Not without Fuyuki, _he remembered. He sighed for a moment and turned his back on the exit. _He should be in the library with his father._ Keroro started running. Fuyuki always researched things with his father in the morning.

Charging through the doors, Keroro reached his friend, just as Fuyuki was frozen to the ground, a soldier slowly approaching him.

Keroro glanced to the ground and saw the king lying their, covered in his own blood.

"Run... Fuyuki..." the King wheezed out.

"I... I can't! Not without you!" Fuyuki cried.

"Why do you think I stood in front of you? So we could both die? No... run..." Haru ordered. His breathing stopped - he was dead. Fuyuki let out a low cry, not moving from his spot.

_Fuyuki! _Keroro thought. He looked around for anything he could use to save the boy. There was a jeweled dagger lying on the ground. Probably Haru's. Keroro grabbed it and ran toward the man attacking his best friend.

He wasn't strong, not like Natsumi wasm who had beaten many knights in fights. He had never killed before, but he was prepared to kill for Fuyuki.

Keroro stabbed at the man's legs, bringing him to the ground. It was the highest Keroro could stab.

"Huh?" The Soldier obviously didn't realize anything was attacking him until he collapsed under his own weight. "Who do you think you are?" he demanded, dropping his sword as he fell and gazed upon Keroro.

"Just a court jester. And you, sir, killed my best friend's father, and tried to kill my best friend." Keroro's eyes were cold. Nobody would hurt Fuyuki. Fuyuki was all he had.

"What are you going to do? Stab me to death? No keronian can kill a strong human like myself!" The soldier laughed, instead of trying to attack Keroro, believing that Keroro knew his place. "How can a prince be your best friend, anyway?"

Keroro didn't answer. "Watch me kill you." He was small enough to be able to slip his dagger between the soldier's helmet and armor, stabbing him repeatedly in the neck.

The soldier's laughing died down. He hadn't expected Keroro to make a move.

"Keroro!" Fuyuki finally snapped back to reality.

Keroro took the dagger away from the man's throat. "Fuyuki! We have to run! Luckily, I know a way out!"

Fuyuki's eyes were still watering, but Keroro took his hand. Running passed dead bodies, he led Fuyuki to the servant's entrance and exit.

He led him down into the servants quarters and handed him some ragged clothes in his size. "Wear this. It'll make you not look like a Prince."

Fuyuki nodded and stripped off his clothes, changing.

"Good. Now... Now we flee." Keroro began smiling. He was going to gain freedom. And with his best friend. He was going to have a life all his own.

"I... I can't." Fuyuki admitted. "Not without Mom and Sis. Will you... help me?"

Keroro's smile fell. _No... No... Don't leave, Fuyuki...! You know I can't do that. Your Mom and Sis aren't like you. They hurt me. I can't give up my freedom for them. I don't care if they live or die! _He was panicking. He knew he couldn't help.

"F-Fuyuki... If I see them... They'll want me to come with you. You know how your sister treats me... And I... I've never been granted a chance for freedom before. Please... I can't," Keroro begged.

"All right." Fuyuki nodded, understanding. He grabbed onto his old, princely garments and ruffled through them. "I'm sorry, Keroro." He grabbed a pouch filled with gold. "You saved my life, and for that I am grateful. But I can not go with you. Not without them. But it's true you can't go with them, either. So leave. Leave for your freedom." Fuyuki handed Keroro the money. "This will be enough to buy you a house. Make sure it's far away from here, in a nice place that will be good to you. They should be kind enough if you have that much money." Fuyuki bent down and hugged his friend. "Good-bye for now, then."

Keroro gulped, trying not to cry. "Good bye, Master Fuyuki..." Fuyuki gave a courageous smile to him as he left the servants' quarters to find his sister.

Keroro was alone. But he was also free.

* * *

He fled the castle all alone, doing as Fuyuki requested. He threw away his dumb court jester hat in the mud.

He passed town by town, looking for one in the countryside, away from prejudice and the bloodshed.

He managed to find a nice town filled with a small cottage up for sale. "May I buy it?" He asked the landlord. Showing him the gold he was able to make the simple deal.

He had no friends in this new town. Nobody talked to him much, either afraid because of the dagger he carried around with him all the time, or because he was a Keronian. He didn't know. He was alone, but he was also free.

And nothing made him happier.

"Did you hear what happened in the castle?" Two friends talked to each other in the pub as Keroro took a drink. Keroro listened closely, wondering if there was news about Fuyuki.

"No... what? It takes a while for us to hear what's happening over there," the other one giggled.

"A dictator from the east conquered it. I suppose the Second Kingdom wasn't big enough. Must have wanted our rock to add to their trees. Heard that everybody in the castle died. Well, except for the prince and princess - they're missing. The dictator's doing everything in his power to find them. Heard he wants their heads," the friend gossiped.

_So they're alive? _Keroro was very happy, so happy, he wanted to cry. _I hope they're safe. And frog hopes that they haven't headed to the east._

_After all, that's his territory._

* * *

Natsumi ran throughout the countryside with her brother, running from the massacre that had just taken place, hoping to find her father somewhere.

She was dressed, like he had suggested. Finally, she finally asked him, "Where are we going?"

"To the east. I've read there's a huge forest that we can probably lose them in. And then... we'll find Mom. We won't be separated from our family for long."

"Dad, too," Natsumi reminded him. "Dad too."

And the two ran to the east... to a forest they didn't know how long they'd spend in.


	4. The Woodcutter

**And Giroro is finally here!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**(Also when I said based on fairy tales, I mean very loosely. I stole ideas because I am uncreative.) **

* * *

Natsumi yawned, stretching and feeling as if she had slept on a bed of rocks.

Looking down, she was reminded of where she was - sleeping on a bed of rocks, lost in the forest with her brother as her only companion.

Surprisingly, she hadn't dreamed of the purple-haired man, but instead of her court jester, the stupid frog.

After looking back on everything, how everybody in the castle had probably been murdered, she wondered... had he escaped with his life?

She didn't know what she was feeling. Was it regret, or worry? Was there anything _to_ regret?

She had heard all her life that Keronians weren't people. They didn't think on equal levels as humans did. They were malicious, not friendly. But she suddenly realized she'd never had a real conversation with the stupid frog.

She had never even asked him his real name.

* * *

Trying to ignore her reflections on how she felt about Keronians, Natsumi set out to bring back some wood to Fuyuki.

_It's time to stop panicking and start acting rationally. This forest is huge and we have no idea when we'll finally leave it. We need to build shelter and find some food._

She started her building of shelter by picking up logs and bringing back them back to the place she and Fuyuki had deemed "camp." Once she had enough logs, she started stacking them into a small house-like formation, like a small cave.

"What are you doing, Sis?" Fuyuki asked, his body physically tired from the lack of sleep.

"Making a shelter. We don't know where Dad is, but maybe he'll find us. After all, we're certainly not finding our way out of this forest." Natsumi tossed him some sticks and a rock. "Here, make a fire. I'm going to go get us breakfast."

"Wh-what? But how?" he asked, looking up at his sister. Natsumi grabbed another stick and began sharpening it down with a rock.

"By hunting, of course."

Fuyuki looked at his sister as if he didn't recognize her. She had been quite spoiled back in the castle, but that hadn't stopped her from getting her way and being allowed on hunting trips. She was finally taking charge and putting her skills to good use. He just had never expected her to look and feel so _natural_, lost in a forest.

He was proud and a little jealous of Natsumi's skill.

* * *

Natsumi was extremely skilled in the art of hunting. She had much practice. It didn't take her long to catch three rabbits, although she knew Fuyuki would expect her to take longer.

_But I didn't want alone time in the forest to hunt, _She reminded herself. Natsumi turned to face a large tree - big, bulky, and strong. She punched it with all the force she could muster.

"Ack!" She let out a shout of pain as her knuckles hit the bark, bleeding just a bit. She punched again with the other hand, trying to get her punches stronger and stronger.

_What I came here to do is train. Train... for my revenge. _Natsumi closed her eyes and hit again, alternating with her legs to practice kicking. She imagining her mother's killer in front of her.

_I will kill him no matter what. But I'm not strong enough yet. I need to get stronger. I need to be strong enough to kill him! _she vowed.

She needed to avenge her mother. Only then would she be strong enough to tell Fuyuki the truth. But he mustn't know that she was training for revenge. He would only wonder what she was avenging.

* * *

She trained for a full hour before returning to Fuyuki with the rabbits. After a healthy breakfast, she left yet again to find supplies and hunt for their dinner.

Fuyuki assumed that since she had taken an hour to hunt the last time, it might take her a while. So he just stayed, doodling the birds and things he saw in a journal that he had managed to bring along with him.

* * *

"Hyah!" Natsumi kept training under the pretense of gathering supplies. The sound of her own voice and body hitting the tree kept her unaware of her surroundings, revenge being her only goal.

"Hey," a gruff voice spoke. Natsumi at first didn't notice the voice behind her until its volume rose. "Hey!"

Natsumi stopped for a moment. "Huh?" She turned around, expecting to see Fuyuki, but instead seeing someone different, a different living person in the forest - a small red Keronian with an ax.

"You're scaring away all the game. Can you be a little quieter with your rage-hitting?" the red Keronian asked, leaning on his ax.

"You're asking me to be quieter?" Natsumi didn't even care that he was a Keronian at the moment. All she cared about was that someone was in the way of her training. "Sorry that my rage inconveniences you, but no way am I going to do that! I have a job to to do. It's a big forest; find somewhere else to be!" Anger filled her voice - not at the Keronian himself, but at the fact that he was interrupting her.

She was a princess. He wasn't supposed to make requests.

The Keronian shrugged. "Big forest, but I've been assigned here to this specific location."

"Then you better leave, frog, or else you're about to get in a fight." Usually Natsumi would have ordered a guard to come and lock away a disobedient Keronian at that point, but it was only her there, and she strong enough to defend herself.

"Wh-what did you call me?" The Keronian didn't seem to pleased with the slur she had called him - frog. "Tch." He turned around with a shrug. "You're not worth my time. I mean, you're not even that strong. Your punching technique is all wrong."

"What. Did. You. Just. Say." Natsumi wasn't about to let anyone insult her punching. "Fine! If you're so sure about that, then fight me! If you beat me, I'll stop being so loud. I'll even leave the area! But if I win, you have to take it back, and say that my technique was perfect." She was ready to fight him.

The red Keronian turned to face her. He dropped his ax and cracked his knuckles. "I'll take you on any day, Pekoponian."

Without any warning, he charged at her, like a flash of light. Natsumi didn't know what was happening, but soon he was behind her, hitting the back of her neck so she would fall over.

"Augh!" The hit hurt._ He's fast! _she realized as he continued punching her stomach and back, hitting her from place to place. _So all I have to do is catch him. Just like a rabbit. _Letting him knock her around, she began to memorize his pattern, pretending that she was the prey instead of him, making fake sounds of pain when he changed positions to continue his confidence. She finally managed to find him as he was preparing for a knocking strike.

She balled her hand into a fist and punched his cheek as hard as she could, sending him flying through the trees.

She stood up smiling as he fell to the ground, beaten. "I did it. Don't underestimate my rage... or my endurance."

The red Keronian took several minutes to recover from the knockout. Eventually, he managed to crawl up and grabbed his ax for balance.

_She's impressive,_ the Keronian thought to himself. _I always thought life was horrible in this forest... with my parents. But I suppose the forest finally granted me a gift... this beautiful, strong warrior girl... Stop getting sappy, me! She's cool, but not something to have your heart race over... What am I talking about? She's that cool._

"I... I shouldn't have underestimated you," he admitted. "You were right, your technique was good... Heh. You were really good." He seemed rather impressed. He was still trying to get over his rapid increase in heartbeat when he looked at the girl who beat him.

She had knocked him into love, hadn't she? This mysterious stranger in the forest, filled with rage, he had fallen in love with. _Just like me to fall in love with someone after they punch me. I guess I'm an idiot that values strength over species._

Natsumi continued smiling after being victorious. She paused to stop for a moment, realizing that Keronian or not, the stranger was the first living being she had seen in the forest, and it wasn't a good idea to be making enemies.

"I'm—I'm... s-sor-" She had never apologized to a Keronian before, so it was difficult to get the words out. She had never seen them as having any worth.

But she respected this strange red one, even though he had insulted her and ordered her around. He was strong. And he had proved it through their battle. "I'm sorry!" she finally said - not bowing, but making her first step to change by using words.

"Why should you be sorry? We had a deal. It was a match. It wasn't like you were beating me up for no reason," the Keronian pointed out. "You okay? Are you bruised?"

Natsumi shook her head. "I'm aching a bit. You were pretty strong, but nothing I can't handle." She sat down to rest, taking a deep breath. "Who are you?" she finally asked, interested enough to learn his name.

She had never learned the stupid frog's name. He could be dead. It was time to finally start learning at least one Keronian name.

"Giroro. I'm just a woodcutter in this forest. My parents have a cottage near here, but I don't think I'll bring you there... You wouldn't want to meet them. Not right now, at least." Giroro shook his head. "You?"

"Na-" Natsumi wondered if she should tell him her real name. It was the princess's name, after all, and everyone with half a brain knew the names of the four princesses. She didn't know if this Giroro would turn her over to the dictator who killed her mother. "Summer," she quickly said, naming herself after the season. "Summer's my name."

"Pretty name," Giroro commented. _Just like you. _"May I ask... What you were doing mauling a tree, Summer?"

Natsumi frowned for a moment. She didn't know if she should tell him this new piece of information about her. Yet, the aura he was giving her made her trust him. He didn't seem like he'd do anything evil with the knowledge.

"Training. I was training," she confessed.

"Training for what?" Giroro asked.

"Revenge." She narrowed her eyes.

She had never talked to a Keronian this deeply before, yet she had nobody else to confide in. Perhaps the secret was eating her away, so she told. She didn't wait for him to ask her for more information. "Recently, my mother was murdered. I want to have the strength to kill her murderer."

Giroro dropped his ax and sat by her side. He looked at her as an equal, and gave her hand a tight squeeze, an action that days ago she would have found awful, but now felt much needed.

"An honorable goal." Giroro smiled, agreeing that she should get revenge. "I... I, too, know the pain of losing someone."

"You... You do?" she said. She didn't know that Keronians cared for people. She realized that she actually knew very little about them.

They weren't simply pets that could speak. From what she saw of Giroro, she realized he was a person just like her.

"It was... recently. My brother was drafted for the war a while back... Our only hope was that he would bring honor to the family and return, yet... he died before he could come home. My parents changed after that, not loving each other, not loving anyone at all... including me. Their only goal now is for me to be what he couldn't be - a soldier who can bring back honor," he told her. His voice was cracking as he tried to hold back tears.

"The war?" Natsumi knew a bit about the war. It was why the Four Kingdoms were what they were. They were aligned to fight against the dangerous outer lands that produced monsters to attack the closest kingdoms. A magical wall had recently been constructed in the First Kingdom to keep the monsters out, but many were still lost every year on the front lines defending the giant wall and nearby beaches. Each kingdom was required to send a certain number of soldiers to it every year.

She realized that as princess, she was partially responsible for Giroro's loss. She hadn't been paying close enough attention to her people's needs.

"I'm so, so sorry..." Natsumi apologized. Everything she knew was a lie. The draft laws that kept soldiers going to war, the Keronians being only pet-like creatures... Everything her father and mother had told her had been wrong.

And it had taken her a _massacre_ to see that.

"Not your fault." Giroro shrugged. "The fault is nobody's." He paused for a moment. "May I ask another question?"

"Of course." It was the first time she had let a Keronian question her, but she felt safe enough to give herself up.

"What are you doing in this forest, Summer? Not many people enter it. It's too huge to navigate through."

"I... I'm looking for my father. Have you seen him?"

"No. The only people here in the forest, to my knowledge, are my parents and I," he admitted to her. Natsumi looked a bit saddened.

Giroro got up and offered her a hand to help her up. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help. Hey, are you going back to training?"

Natsumi looked at the sky, which was darkening. "No. I need to get back to my brother. He's at our camp. Why?"

"I... I was just thinking... Maybe we could train together?" He rubbed his neck and glanced off to the side. "But, I suppose if you have to get back to your brother, that's fine. Brothers are important to stick by."

"Train... together?" Natsumi had never fought side-by-side with a Keronian. Yet, she had also never fought _with_ a Keronian. She looked at the sky again. "How about you meet me back here tomorrow?" she decided. "I'd love those pointers you thought you had about my technique."

"S-so... we can..." Giroro blushed as if he was having a secret rendezvous with a loved one.

"Yeah! We can!" Natsumi begin to walk away with some rabbit she had hunted earlier to get for her brother. The warm fuzzy feeling she had when talking to Giroro was unusual. But she knew what it was, even though there was a species boundary between them.

_I have a friend! _she realized. She had always surrounded herself with superficial court ladies who only complimented her and admired her because she was a princess. The knights and soldiers had never wanted to be friends with a girl. Yet, here she was, friends with a male Keronian and enjoying it.

"Why do you want to train?" she finally called from afar, seeing the last of Giroro for the day.

"Because I have a goal I want to be strong for, too!" Giroro shouted to her.

When she got back, she was surprised Fuyuki hadn't heard any of their shouting. Yet, he definitely noticed the big grin she had on her face.

_Keronians... I've had them all wrong all my life... Or maybe Giroro is the exception? _Natsumi didn't know. All she knew was that she felt a friendly bond with him.


	5. At the Campfire

**Just some more Gironatsu now. That's pretty much the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Natsumi hurriedly went to meet Giroro at the place they had chosen - in front of the tree she had been training at. She had to wait until the afternoon when it was time for her to go hunting again.

"You sure you'll be fine on you own? We don't know if there are any dangerous beasts in this forest yet," Fuyuki pointed out.

"The only dangerous beast I know of is the man who attacked our kingdom," Natsumi said to him. Her brother nodded. He had the same hatred she did.

"Stay safe," he told her.

She waved and left.

* * *

"Am I late?" Natsumi asked, glancing at Giroro.

"Nope." Giroro shook his head. "Right on time." He had brought a pack with him this time.

"What's that?" Natsumi asked.

"A crossbow and arrows. It's what I usually practice with. I'm more proficient in long-distance than short. Although I do consider myself strong in hand-to-hand combat, it is not my best area," Giroro told her.

Natsumi nodded. "Let's hurry before the sun sets."

Giroro nodded and the two began to train, hitting and aiming at the trees around them.

* * *

Together, they finished before the night sky finally set in. Natsumi sat down, tired.

"Here." Giroro offered a canteen full of water. "Keeping hydrated is an important part of training."

Natsumi gladly took the water and drank from it. _I've never touched something a Keronian's lips have touched... Is this wrong? Or is this okay? _She was too thirsty to question it. She handed it back to him when she had drunk half of it. "Your turn."

"Ummm..." Giroro blushed, not knowing what to do. He hadn't planned for her to give it back to him. He shyly took a drink, trying not to think about how the girl's lips had just been on the mouth of his canteen and they were sharing an indirect kiss.

His face exploded in blush, because he did think about it.

Natsumi leaned her back against the tree, looking up at the sky. "Hey, Giroro?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Giroro asked, recovering from his explosion.

"Are there any dangerous beasts in the forest?"

"Besides man, not to my knowledge. The most dangerous thing I know of is the beast that rules this forest."

"Beast? That rules the forest?" Natsumi raised her eyebrows. So there was danger.

"Well, the beast rules the whole kingdom, but this forest is included. I've heard he's horrible... An evil dictator who's not set on just conquering one kingdom, but wishes to have all the four kingdoms," Giroro explained.

"An... evil dictator?" Natsumi's blood ran cold. She and Fuyuki had run straight into the kingdom of the evil dictator that had killed her mother.

"Yeah. Wait..." Giroro looked at Natsumi and her cold fear, "Summer, do you know him? You look...Almost frightened...Angry..." Giroro noted.

"He was the one who killed my mother." Natsumi admitted, "And I'm now in his home territory."

"He was the one who killed your mother?" Giroro didn't know how to comfort the girl who seemed to be shaking. He finally pat her back, bringing her to reality. "You'll kill him. I know you will," he promised her.

Natsumi nodded. "My brother and I were so stupid. We ran right to him! There's probably no place safe from him... We ran in the wrong direction."

"That's not true," Giroro told her, shaking his head. "You met me because of your bad sense of direction."

"Yeah, but if my brother and I are killed because of that..." Small tears were coming down her face. Giroro couldn't bear to see her sad.

"I don't know what you and your brother did to tick that beast off, but there is safety somewhere for you." He looked her in the eye. "Paradise."

"Safety? Where?" Natsumi asked. She looked at Giroro as if he was the only one who could tell her.

"To the north," he spoke. "Have you heard much about the fourth kingdom?"

Natsumi knew only a little. She had paid attention to only her kingdom. There was the First Kingdom, the kingdom of sea which, was under the water and filled with magic; there was the Second Kingdom of forests;there was the Third Kingdom, her own, the Kingdom of Stone; and there was the Fourth Kingdom. It was surrounded by mystery to her.

"It's the Kingdom of Justice. Equality. Coincidentally, where I want to go too." Giroro smiled. "I've heard it's a wonderful place. It's supposed to be cold, but it's filled with a paradise like warmness. Crystals cote the land and illuminate it in the darkness. There's very little crime, and the people live in happiness." He sighed, picturing the freedom.

"And it would be safe?".

"The dictator isn't there. You could reach it and stay there safely. I've heard they've only had one ruler for the last two thousand years. That probably won't change anytime soon," he spoke, giving Natsumi hope. "It'll be a safe place for you and your brother."

"But why do you want to go there, Giroro?" she asked, speaking his name. It was still very odd for her to say a Keronian name.

"Because it's the only place with a being that has a longer lifespan than Keronians. The humans who live in that kingdom might still be cruel to Keronians, not listening to them, but they're not as cruel as inthe other kingdoms. The ruler, I've heard, is benevolent and treats all her subjects with equality. It's the only kingdom where I have a future beyond being a poor woodcutter," he confessed.

Natsumi opened her mouth briefly, wondering what to say. She had no idea Keronians lived such sad lives, only ever having one hope for the future.

"I-I'm... sorry..." she finally spoke.

"For what?" Giroro asked.

"For calling you a frog." She smiled at him. "You're not. You're a Keronian... And I've been so mean to Keronians for so long... I'm sorry..."

"It's all right," he told her. "What matters is that you are learning. I know sometimes it's hard to unlearn things. Thanks for apologizing, though, Summer."

Every word she said, letting him learn more about her, made him fall deeper in love with her. Someone who he originally thought had a ton of pride was apologizing and learning what she did was wrong. He was so proud of her.

Natsumi smiled back at him. "Giroro...?" Saying his name was beginning to get less and less weird, and feel more natural.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"What is it you're trying to get strong for?" She wanted to address what he had said yesterday.

"Ah... That." Giroro smiled for another moment. "For my dream," he answered simply. Natsumi waited for more information.

"I know someday, I'm going to be drafted into the war. Become a soldier. But I will not die. I will fight, hard and strong, and I will try to impress the Kingdom of Justice with my fighting," he told her. "When they're impressed, they'll take me back to them, and I will work toward my true goal."

"And what's your true goal, Giroro?" she asked him.

"To be the first Keronian knight ever. It's about time Keronians were knighted, and I want to be the the first. I want to protect that which is precious to me. I want to fight for something I believe in, not because I was forced to fight."

Natsumi's mouth opened slightly into a gasp. His dream was so vivid, so beautiful.

He wanted a future, and he wanted to pave a way for a future for others like himself. In a way, he was a better role model than her, the princess of an entire kingdom.

"Giroro... That's wonderful!" Natsumi clapped.

He smiled. "Thank you, Summer."

Natsumi thought for a moment. Giroro was definitely trustworthy. And it was wrong for her to leave him every night to go home to a home he disliked.

He had proven himself trustworthy enough to meet Fuyuki.

"Hey, Giroro... Do you want to come back to camp with me and meet my brother?" She was opening her heart more and more to the red frog.

Giroro was caught by surprise by the question. "Yes... of course!" he answered.

"His name is... Winter." Natsumi decided. "Don't tell him what we've been talking about. He doesn't know our mother is dead."

"All right," he agreed.

* * *

Natsumi made it back to Fuyuki with Giroro by her side.

"Hey, bro," she told him, "I... I found someone in the forest today."

"Mom?" Fuyuki asked excitedly.

"No... but a friend." Giroro came out of the bushes.

"Hello, Winter," Giroro greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Winter?" Fuyuki repeated. Slowly, he realized that Natsumi hadn't told the Keronian their real names to protect their identity. "Oh, yeah, that's me!" he laughed nervously. He was honestly surprised Natsumi had brought back a Keronian with her.

"He lives in the forest cutting trees, so he probably knows the forest well," Natsumi told her brother, sitting down by the fire. She pat a spot on the ground for Giroro to sit by, too.

Giroro blushed and sat down by her side. Fuyuki noticed, but Natsumi didn't.

"He... a friend of yours?" Fuyuki finally asked, wondering if the two had been meeting to have some sort of secret love affair or if they really were friends.

"Y-yeah. Giroro's a friend. We can trust him," she told her brother. Fuyuki didn't know what to be more surprised about - that Natsumi was finally putting her dehumanization of Keronians to rest and had befriended one, or that a Keronian was very apparently in love with her.

Fuyuki looked at Giroro for a moment. Usually he was a good judge of character.

The only thing he could judge from Giroro, though, was lovesickness.

"I agree that he won't hurt us," he finally said. "It's nice to meet you, too, Giroro." Fuyuki put out his hand to shake Giroro's.

He honestly wanted a moment alone to speak to the Keronian that had seemingly changed his sister.

"Did you bring back dinner, sis?" Fuyuki asked, knowing she didn't.

"Uhhhh... yeah... I left it a ways away, but I'll go fetch it!" she lied, having forgotten to hunt that day. She hurriedly went off, leaving Giroro and Fuyuki to speak.

"Your sister probably wants me to tell you you're in the wrong forest," Giroro finally spoke to him. "You're in the dictator's kingdom."

"Oh... well, as soon as we navigate out of this forest, we'll try to get out of his kingdom, then," Fuyuki decided, overly optimistic.

Giroro nodded.

"So... you like my sister?"

The question caught him off-guard. "Wh-what? N-no! No way!" He shook his head.

"A lot of people liked her before we were attacked... She never really liked them back. But for some reason, she trusts you and finds your friendship nice. You've changed her. And I think you'd be good for her. So you hereby have my support!" Fuyuki grinned.

Giroro was shocked. He just kept blushing. "Ummm... Th-thanks... B-but you have things...wrong. We've only known each other for two days..."

"Yet you've fallen in love with her, and she finds you trustworthy! Which is rare for sis. I think you make a good match."

He continued to blush but was happy for Fuyuki's words.

"I got the food!" Natsumi told them, rushing back.

Fuyuki smiled, happy. Giroro was lost in fantasy land, though.

_There's nothing wrong with me loving Summer. And he's right. We make a nice match. We're both just two people who have nothing - no home, no riches, nothing except the drive for our dream and love for our brothers._

_Keronian-Pekoponian relationships may be looked down upon, but it's looked less down upon when nobody knows about it and nobody cares since the two live in poverty. Summer and I both have nothing. It could work out._

Giroro smiled._ There's hope for us_.

* * *

**Please review, even if it's a guest review I would appreciate it with what you think, if it's good, bad or boring. I haven't written a main Gironatsu story in a while and I don't know how this one turned into that.**


	6. Science

**All right, another flashback/back story chapter. This time it's for Kululu...And maybe one other character but you'll have to get to the end to see that character.**

**Umm...Apologies to Aki fans?**

**No apologies to Haru fans. Who knows that guy's personality?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Aki looked over her kingdom responsibly, caring for every human in it.

Every human. All Keronians she saw as only pets, tools. They weren't alive to her.

"They'll be your pets too, my darling," Aki cooed to her young daughter, who had just been born. The kingdom was theirs. And it would be theirs for all eternity.

No blasted Keronian would take that away from her daughter, just because they had a longer lifespan than her.

They would not take away Natsumi's throne.

* * *

"Why the heck is there a Keronian like you? You disgrace even us Keronians!"

In the Kingdom of Stone, there was only one Keronian who was looked down upon, even by the other Keronians.

That Keronian was the ugliest of them all - a yellow Keronian who had nothing, not even very good sight. The humans already took their anger out on him, but the Keronians kicked and beat him, too.

"S-stop..." he would beg.

Even his own parents had abandoned him to die because of his ugliness. It was a miracle he had survived so long, living as a beggar on the streets, in the mud and dirt.

For some reason people got the notion that ugliness reflected who you truly were on the inside. A beautiful person would be nice and sweet, whereas an ugly person would be cruel and evil.

Who was he to stop them from their beliefs?

The only thing the Keronian _did_ have was a brain. He had been gifted with amazing intelligence that had saved his life on more than one occasion. The first thing he had ever made was something that could help his sight - glasses.

After that, everything except the pain was easier. As long as he kept to the shadows and made sure that nobody ever saw him, he could work in peace.

However, he wasn't very successful. He was still frequently beaten by almost everybody. He was at the bottom of the pecking order.

That didn't stop the Keronian, though. Every hit, every beating, made his heart harder and harder, more evil and evil as he added names to his revenge list.

Kululu just needed the power to back him up.

* * *

It took several years for Kululu to make his way to becoming at least semi-successful. He eventually realized fear protected him more than pity, and began putting his only treasures - his inventions - to good use. Revenge.

Whoever hurt him was now killed by the power of inventions. The rumors quickly spread.

Nobody believed in science besides him. They all thought that suddenly the weak Keronian had gained dark magic, and stayed away from him.

That suited his purposes fine. And slowly, just a laugh would clear the road for him. "Kuuuu, ku, ku, ku."

Kululu was finally starting to get the life he wanted. He was at the top, gaining his revenge and hurting others, being a jerk till the end.

* * *

He had killed someone for the house he currently lived in. One morning, while he was working, there was a knock at the door.

He didn't answer it. He knew that knocker would be punished if they knocked again.

"The king's royal guards are here to request your presence." Kululu didn't touch the door, but the door was knocked down by the royal guards, anyway.

_So word of my skill has finally reached the king? Ah. The real question is whether he's wanting my help or if he's come to eliminate me... _The answer was quite clear as a royal guard grabbed him. Physically, Kululu was still a weakling.

"You're under arrest for practicing dark magic. The king will see you and decide your punishment."

"It's science!" Kululu corrected before they dragged him off.

* * *

He was pushed in front of the king and queen's feet. A little girl sat on the queen's lap.

The king laughed. "So this is the Keronian that the people were talking about. He certainly does look like a beast!"

"I didn't know Keronians were this ugly..." Aki, the queen, bit her lip. He would not make a good pet.

"Ku, ku, ku. Your majesty, I have much to do, so finish your business quick," Kululu spoke as a royal guard's boot was on his head.

"You certainly don't know your place. But I shall present you my business. I want you to use your dark magic for the kingdom. I want you to work for me," King Haru spoke to him.

"And why would I do that? Ku, ku, ku. What am I getting for this deal?" asked Kululu. He never made a deal unless he was the one who got 200% more out of it.

"Life, for at least a little bit. You won't be killed under the crime of practicing dark magic, and you won't be killed for showing your face to my daughter and disgusting her," said the king. Little Natsumi began crying on Aki's lap from Kululu's wince-worthy face.

"Well... that was rude. I don't think I'll take that offer," Kululu decided.

Aki comforted her daughter. "But you will, Keronian," she told him. She glanced at Haru and lifted her hand, ordering someone to come in.

A royal torturer.

"When you're ready to be controlled, your torture will be done. For now, welcome yourself to your new home."

Kululu took a look at Aki's and Haru's faces, stunned. At first, he wasn't scared. His entire life was torture, after all. Torture couldn't hurt him. Right?

* * *

He was wrong. Kululu was strung up like a rag doll, cut at just enough for him to scream and wish for death, starved, dehydrated - but never enough for his life to be in danger.

Beatings by villagers - humans, and Keronians alike - were nothing in comparison to a professional torturer.

But there was one thing that remained strong in Kululu as he screamed: his pride. He would never give in.

_I'll never be controlled. I'll always be the wild beast that you fear, _Kululu thought to himself.

The torturer laughed at him, spit at him, and broke his bones, but he could never break Kululu completely. His willpower remained strong, telling himself over and over again that he would punish those who had hurt him.

_I've always been punished for what I've been born with - my species, my looks... even the one gift I got, my super intelligence. But I will not give up my one gift. It's mine. _He would always look at the torturer straight in the eyes, even when he wanted so desperately to scream till his head came off.

He didn't know when it would end.

* * *

It took 3 years of keeping Kululu in a dark dungeon before the king and queen finally gave up and requested his presence in front of them again.

The King cut to the chase as Kululu was dragged before him in chains. "You have been deemed uncontrollable."

Kululu looked upon the ones who had captured them, memorizing their faces. If there was one other emotion in him besides pride that had gotten him through his torture, it was revenge. He wanted revenge on those who had hurt him.

_Ku, ku, ku... It will be just like before... _He recalled a few Keronians who had beaten him in his past. He had put them in a cauldron, just for show, to scare people away from him.

Nobody else tried to bother him after that.

"You will be executed," Haru finished.

_Executed? But... how will I get revenge, then? I will have amounted to nothing, _Kululu realized. He felt hopelessness, sadness, even a small bit of terror.

"Do I get any requests for a last meal?" he asked, hoping there was a chance to escape.

"No. That's a custom for humans only," said Aki.

Kululu frowned.

_I will not die here. I haven't even been a jerk till the end! This isn't how I'm going to die! _he vowed.

* * *

He had until sunrise to plan his escape. He was put in his same torture chamber, awaiting his execution, just because he was uncontrollable.

The only difference was the torturer wasn't in his cell with him.

_Finally... I can look for tools to make something. _Kululu clawed at the dirt, the walls, even the other bones of people who had died around him. He had no screws, no metal, nothing that could make a laser that would blow the wall apart enough for him to escape.

_I do have glass, though... _he realized. He reached for his most precious invention, his glasses. They'd have to be sacrificed for his life. He took them off and beginning devising a laser, working more on instinct because he could no longer see.

Finally, after working all throughout the night, he made it. Silently, he begin to blast the wall, trying to tunnel his way out of the dungeons.

He crawled through the dirt, relaying only on his body to feel what was around him. Covered in bugs and holding his laser in front of him, he finally began to feel the crack of dawn on his skin as he made it to the surface.

The bell rang far awa,y symbolizing his execution. But he was no longer in the dungeons, or the castle - he was right outside of it.

Blind as a bat, he ran, tripping over his own feet, with only his laser to protect himself. He heard shouts of "Find him! Find him!" in the background, but he did not stop to tease anyone.

It wasn't till he felt trees all around him that he felt safe, touching the bark and realizing he was in a forest, thoughprobably lost.

_I'm alive...That's all that matters. _He finally sat down to remake his glasses. It took him a while, but Kululu was finally able to see again.

Looking around, he recognized the forest from books he had once stolen and read - the Forest of the Lost, somewhere in the Second Kingdom.

_So I'm no longer in that cursed kingdom..._Kululu realized, shivering. He was far away from the people who would harm him, who wanted him dead.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't return.

_I'll be back. I swear it. I'll be back someday to take my revenge for what you've done. And when I do, I'll kill everybody there who was present. The queen, the king, the crying baby who thought I was ugly... I'll kill them all! _"Ku, ku, ku!" Kululu vowed.

To have such revenge on a royal family, he'd need power.

It was time to start over, once again from nothing, to make many things.

* * *

It took another three years of living on the edge of the forest to make enough weapons that would make him unstoppable against a royal army.

_This is going far too quickly, though. I don't want my revenge to end so quickly_. Kululu had to complete destroy the Third Kingdom. And to do that, he needed more power. He needed to be a king himself.

The Second Kingdom was a good subject. He'd conquer it and use the soldiers from it to attack the Third.

And that was just what he did, making a bag that could hold anything he needed. It had enough space to hold all of his inventions.

* * *

"Wh-what are you going to do to us?" The queen of the Kingdom of Forests trembled after Kululu had turned all her most loyal guards into stone. The rest had run away.

It hadn't taken him long at all to storm the castle, to conquer what was supposed to be the strongest in the land. _The people's hearts will be a lot harder to conquer... _he reminded himself.

The king huddled by his wife in front of their young five-year-old child.

"Kill you," Kululu answered the queen simply. "Sorry, it just suits my goals. You might be innocent. I don't know, I don't care, but I need your land and your power."

The family trembled together.

"Don't... do that to Mommy and Daddy... Please..." The child was the one to speak up against him, still too brave for her own good.

_So this is the princess that would have ruled if I had not come? Ku, ku, ku. Interesting, _Kululu thought to himself.

He pointed his weaponized gun at the little girl first.

"This is for our sins against your people, correct? We didn't know that Keronians would get angry!" the king sobbed.

"Spare me the crying fest. The little girl's dying first," Kululu decided, bored of the royalty.

"Wait!" The queen's shrill scream interrupted him, and he turned to her. "Kill me first. Kill my husband. Take my land, we won't put up a fight. But, please... don't kill my daughter. She is innocent. I'm begging you. Don't kill my daughter."

Kululu was surprised by the selflessness of the queen. He had never seen a parent sacrificing themselves for a child. He had been abandoned at a young age himself, only a blanket left to him. He was honestly intrigued.

"All... All right," he responded without thinking.

The child cried.

_What am I saying? _thought Kululu._ A child will not help me with my goals... But wait... The princesses of the Four Kingdoms are all beloved... This one probably is, too. I could use her as a hostage to keep the people following me. And when she's old enough, maybe she can help me deal with the people herself. Maybe this will help me in my goal._

The queen smiled just as Kululu shot her in the head. The king screamed, but Kululu did the exact same. The child huddled in the corner, trying to avoid her parents' blood.

"I made a deal, so I won't kill you. What's your name, kid?" Kululu asked, wondering if he regretted his deal yet.

"Koyuki... K-koyuki's my name..." the kid told him through her tears. She was scared, but she knew not giving her name would only result in her pain.

"All right."

* * *

Kululu's first thing that he did as King was construct a tower for the child. She was still a valuable hostage and now his responsibility. It had enough that it would keep her safe, but also high enough that she couldn't get out.

He imprisoned her in the tower, keeping her safe but still imprisoned.

He was a conqueror now. And he had taken his first step in his plan toward revenge.

Aki and Haru's kingdom would soon fall - and at his hands.

Nothing would change that.


	7. Good-bye

**Next chapter here! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

The next morning, Natsumi didn't have to sneak off to train with Giroro. Although Fuyuki didn't know it was training, he was quite happy to let them have their alone time together.

"Have fun kissing—I mean, hanging out..." Fuyuki corrected himself, waving good-bye to his sister. Natsumi rolled her eyes. It was almost like Fuyuki thought they were meeting in secret so that they could have romantic moments together or something.

She hurried along to meet Giroro at their training location. When she met him, Giroro smiled, not impatiently, but just happy to see her.

"So you're brother let you go?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's all fine." Natsumi smiled. "He seems to like you."

Giroro blushed bashfully.

* * *

The two trained for an hour, sparring against trees and sometimes each other.

_I'm a princess. Should training for revenge be all I'm doing? It's not benefiting my people. What if the dictator is better than me at ruling? _Self-doubt began to cloud Natsumi's mind.

Revenge was her goal, yet as a princess she knew helping people must also be her goal.

_I need practicing helping people, but I also need to beat things up. Perhaps... There's a chance to get both... _Natsumi stopped punching for a moment. "You know this forest well, right, Giroro?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I do," he responded.

"Any towns near here? Any villages?" With Giroro directing her, she could probably find one.

"Yes. There's a small town at the edge of the forest. Are you planning to leave?" He tried not to let nervousness creep into his voice. He didn't want Summer to leave just yet. He knew her place probably wasn't in the forest, but he thought she was satisfied with training at the moment.

"No. I have no plans to leave at the moment. I foolishly fled into an enemy's kingdom, yet this forest might still protect my brother and me. It's safe here, and I can no longer think of any reason to leave. We're no longer lost, we're staying," she said.

"Why did you want to know about the town, then?"

"Because just practicing against trees isn't good enough. I want to be doing something. I want to be helping people. And I thought looking at a town around here, beating whatever evil the dictator has been placed there, would do both - protect people and get the training I need," she explained.

"So you want to try acting as a sort of vigilante?" said Giroro.

Natsumi nodded her head. "I want to see what kind of towns the dictator rules. And I want to help protect the people from him. Are you in or out?" she asked, offering him a place by her side.

"I'm in," he said with a grin. "Of course I want to protect people. I'm going to be a knight someday."

"Then meet me here tonight and lead me to that small village," Natsumi requested.

"Wouldn't dream of anything else."

* * *

It didn't take long for midnight to come. Natsumi made sure that Fuyuki was at least resting, so he wasn't paying attention when she sneaked out.

She met Giroro by their tree and smiled.

"So, ready to destroy some evil in the name of justice?" she asked, offering a hand.

"Of course I am." Giroro took her hand and led her in the direction of the town.

* * *

The small village was dark, only a few lights on. Natsumi pointed to some rooftops.

"Let's get a better look at the village from there," she suggested. She and Giroro climbed upon the roof.

From a more aerial view, it was clear that the village was in poorer shape than she'd imagined. Walls were ripped open, plants were trampled, and there seemed to be a few knights pointing spears at families.

"They're... pillaging," Natsumi realized. They were stealing from the families who lived in the village. She hated the dictator even more for letting his people be in this condition.

"Those are the ones we attack." Giroro pointed at the knights. "They're using their knightly powers wrong. Those are no real knights."

"Yeah. You shoot, I'll punch." Natsumi jumped down from the roof top, running toward one of the knights who had grabbed a child and was about to throw it.

"You'll regret this." She charged into him, pushing him down and catching the child. Giroro shot at the knight from a distance.

When a few arrows had hit him, Natsumi delivered a punch to his jaw, sending him flying.

"Ha! I bet you regret working for that dictator now - " She was cut off as she looked at the emblem on the knights armor - that of _her_ kingdom, not of the dictator's. "Wh-what...?"

It was her knights pillaging the city. Not the dictator's. They had probably run from the massacre and were now looking for a fortune so they could retire in peace. Still, it was disgusting that the knights that she was responsible for were doing so much.

The knight gazed upon her face for just a moment before he uttered a loud yelp. "Retreat!" The other knights tried to run, but only a few made it, Giroro shooting them from the distance. Natsumi was still frozen to her place from the newest discovery.

_Am... I the monster? These are my knights I'm responsible for... I'm not protecting people... I've ignorantly let them be hurt, _Natsumi thought to herself as a few more knights fell down dead.

The town was free from knights. The child in Natsumi's arms helped herself down.

"Thank you, miss! You saved me!" the child smiled. Natsumi smiled back, the child's grin evaporating her worries.

Giroro hoped down from the roof.

"We did it," he said. "Good work. You delivered a good punch. Are you okay, though? You kind of... froze up."

"I'm fine... It's just..." She sighed. "Nothing." Natsumi turned around, wanting to get rid of her worry and discomfort.

"Our saviors! You saved this town from those awful knights!" an old lady congratulated Natsumi and Giroro. "I prayed for you two. I knew the famous Keronian-human team would come to save us. They always help the needy." The old lady confused them for a different vigilante pair.

"Huh, but we're not... We're not who you're thinking of. This is our first time saving a village," Natsumi admitted.

"Hmm? Really? No matter, you still saved us. Your skill is quite commendable," said the old lady. "Bring out food for our saviors! We shall celebrate our newfound freedom!"

"We... didn't do that much though," said Giroro.

"You took out a knight with one punch, and then they retreated. You _did_ do much," said the old lady.

Giroro and Natsumi looked at each other. "I suppose we can afford attending to a party..." Natsumi smiled.

"I've... n-never really been to one..." said Giroro.

"Well, then, this will be your first time!" Natsumi watched as more and more townspeople came out with small torches to illuminate the town.

They brought out food and musical instruments and began to play. People danced, celebrating the retreat of the soldiers.

Natsumi grabbed Giroro's arms and pulled him closer to her, so that the two could dance together.

"Um... Summer, I don't think this will work out; I mean, the size difference and all..." he blushed.

"I know, but I can hold you! It's all for fun, after all, nothing big." Natsumi spun Giroro around and let herself be overcome by the music.

Giroro just blushed as Natsumi danced with him, trying to figure out how dancing worked.

The party went on for a little while longer. Giroro eventually got tired from being spun and just sat by Natsumi's side as she watched the happy people eat and dance.

He watched her face instead, just thankful to see her so happy with a job well done.

The atmosphere was perfect. He hadn't planned to tell her how much he felt for her, but if he didn't do it soon, he knew somebody else would make a move. She was a special girl, after all.

"Summer..." Giroro said her fake name and grasped his hand around hers.

"Yeah?" Natsumi asked, looking down at him. He seemed to have something important on his mind.

"Are you going to stay in the forest... forever? You said it seemed safe there..." He didn't want to be separated. He wanted them to be together.

"Well, probably not forever, but it's the only home I have right now. There's no where else I can think of going," she shrugged.

"You should stay... I mean, it's a nice place. Not dangerous... and we... w-we could be together... I mean..." He coughed. "The past few days with you have been the happiest in my life. When I have to work for my parents, they're quite cruel, honestly. They work a ton out of me, but I've somehow been able to scrape through with hope, thanks to you... You've changed my life and me... and for that, I am grateful."

Natsumi smiled at his confession. "You've changed me a lot too, to be honest, Giroro."

"To be honest, there's something I very much want to tell you... Summer..." Giroro looked into her eyes. He reached up to stroke a strand of her hair off her face.

"Y-yeah, Giroro?" She wondered what he was going to say to her. She felt it was important.

"Summer, I'm in love - " He was cut off by the sound of horse hoofs against the ground.

The knight Natsumi had punched had returned, and he was smirking.

"Hand over the princess and nobody gets hurt," he bellowed. Everybody stopped celebrating.

"There is no princess here." The old woman, who turned out to be the one in charge of the town, stepped to the front of the crowd. She looked at Giroro and Natsumi, waiting for them to defend the town.

Giroro stood up, readying his crossbow.

Natsumi didn't know what to do. Hide or fight? She knew Giroro would probably be mad at her for lying about her true name if he figured out she was actually a princess. She didn't know what the knight had in store for her, but she knew hiding would be cowardly.

Natsumi chose to stand her ground and fight.

"His majesty has decreed that the first person to find Princess Natsumi will be showered with riches and given a lordship in his kingdom. I'm going to be that one," said the knight.

"There is no princess - " the old woman insisted.

"What are you going to do with that Princess once you find her?" Curiosity got the better of Natsumi and she took a stance, ready to punch. Was the knight talking about "his majesty" her father, or "his majesty" the dictator that had taken over her kingdom?

"Kill you," the knight said simply. He had recognized Natsumi quite easily. He charged forward with his sword out, ready to cut off her head.

She wouldn't be able to reach him on his horse. Her punch wasn't going to hit him before her neck was sliced.

"NOOO!" Giroro jumped up onto the horse, his smaller body making it easier for him to land and cling to it. He grabbed the arm of the knight, the arm that held the sword.

"What do you think you're doing, little Keronian?" the knight laughed as Giroro tried to wrestle the sword from his hand. "You're so tiny and little. You're not strong enough to do anything."

Giroro punched him the face with his other hand and bit the Knight's arm with his sharp little teeth.

"Ow!" the knight yelled, dropping the sword.

"I'm much stronger than you when I have something to protect." Giroro's eyes had a dangerous flame in them, as if he was ready to kill. He punched the knight off the horse, who stopped right in front of Natsumi.

Giroro dropped to the ground as the knight hustled for his sword.

"Giroro..." Natsumi hadn't seen this look in Giroro ever. He seemed to have snapped as soon as her life was in danger.

"I'll kill her even if it costs me my life!" the knight charged again, only a minor wound on his arm.

Giroro grabbed one of his arrows and thrust it into the knight's foot. He thrust it with enough strength for it to go through the armor and the ground, splintering the arrow into pieces inside the knight.

"AAAAH!" the knight screamed, dropping his sword. Giroro picked it up.

"Never. Hurt. Her," he growled. He thrust the sword through the knight's chest, killing him.

"Giroro!" Natsumi ran toward him after the knight had fallen. "I'm okay. I'm fine," she told him. She dropped down to hug him.

Giroro went back to reality, his anger towards someone trying to hurt Natsumi fading.

"So, you're a princess... When were you going to tell me?" he asked, moving away from her before she could hug him.

"I'm sorry... My real name is Natsumi. I'm sorry I didn't tell you..." she apologized.

"Princess Natsumi... That was the one who hated Keronians a lot, right? The rumors have even drifted to a poor woodcutter like myself, who lives in the middle of a forest." Giroro appeared to be looking down upon Natsumi, almost, his anger now turned to her.

"No! Well, yes... I used to... But after meeting you... Giroro, you changed me... And being a princess doesn't change the fact that we're friends - " She tried to squeeze Giroro's hand, but he slapped hers away.

_I was foolish. I fell in love stupidly with someone I knew very little about. Just because we both have dreams doesn't mean we'll work out. Not only is she a Pekoponian, but she's a Princess. The world... probably even she... will never let us be together. We just weren't meant to be. We weren't even meant to socialize. _Giroro's heart broke at that fact. She had other duties to do, to rule, to someday have heirs. He had to let her go.

"Natsumi..." He used her real name. "It _does_ change thatfact. We... We're not meant to be... You're a Pekoponian, I'm a Keronian... You're a Princess, I'm a poor woodcutter. You have better things to do than to be my friend. You have a goal that you will accomplish." He accepted it instead of trying to make a difference. His current position couldn't offer her anything. He was a nothing, compared to her.

She probably secretly hated him, anyway.

"Giroro..." Natsumi tried to reason with him.

"I'm taking you to your brother." He grabbed her hand and led her out of the village.

* * *

Natsumi tried to talk to him all the way back, but Giroro would not speak with her. He had made his choice. He dropped her off by the fire near Fuyuki and then left.

In 10 minutes he was back again, to Natsumi's confusion. But he just dropped off supplies.

"Here." He handed the things to the two siblings.

"What's all this for...? Giroro, what's going on?" Natsumi looked at the packs and the map that he had handed her.

"Supplies. For your journey. This isn't the best place for a princess. It won't get you any closer to your goal." His eyes were dead and sad as he let her go.

"So you're sending me off?"

"Ummm... Sis, what happened?" Fuyuki asked.

"He found out who we were, and now he's cutting off ties," she cried.

"Yes. I'm sending you off. That map shows you the direction to go to to get to the Kingdom of Justice. It will be safe for you and fit for a... a princess," Giroro told her. "Leave."

"But I don't want to go!" Natsumi cried. "I want to stay here with you! I don't care that I'm a princess. I thought we were friends... Don't make me go!" She tried to reach toward Giroro, but Fuyuki stopped her, holding her so she could cry. He could see that Giroro wasn't going to give up. He knew the red frog probably had realized the difference between them and the hopelessness of their relationship.

"Go... Natsumi... Go..." Giroro ordered. He then disappeared into the darkness of the forest, leaving Natsumi finally with a way out that would lead them away from the dictator's kingdom.

Natsumi just cried over the loss of her friend.

* * *

When Giroro was alone, he curled up by their special meeting place at the tree and cried.

_I did what was best for her. She would have never been truly happy by the side of a poor Keronian like me. Our lives have already been chosen for us. And I'm not in hers. _Giroro felt the tears come down his face. _But I want to be..._

_Natsumi... I love you... I love you so much. But we can never be together. You'll never truly enjoy the company of a Keronian like myself, and I am too poor to help you with anything._

_So... I'm going to free you. Free you from this forest. You'll seek your dream and you'll complete it... without me. It'll be the best for you._

_And I'll just have to deal with that. But I always will love you._

He already missed his warrior princess. He knew he would love her every day for the rest of his life. Even when she forgot him, him he would still love her.

Taking the knight's sword he had carried back, he began to carve something in their tree. _Giroro loves Natsumi_.

It was something he could never tell her now. But the tree would know.

He cried for the rest of the night, regretting having to send her off, but abiding by his choice for her sake.

How much he already missed her.


	8. Kingdom of Justice

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!**

**Yay! Appearance by my favorite character!**

**Also, I really mean loosely based on fairy tales. Don't show this to any fairy tale fans. I don't want to butcher what they love.**

* * *

"Sis... you okay?" Fuyuki asked. The two were approaching a cave-like system that they would travel through to enter the fourth kingdom. Natsumi hadn't spoken since Giroro had cut off ties with her.

"Was it my fault... because of how I used to treat Keronians? Or was our friendship just not meant to be, Fuyuki?" she asked, finally addressing the issue.

"I... I think..." Fuyuki didn't really know what to say. He just pat Natsumi on the back. "Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe Giroro knew he couldn't be friends with a princess... Too many issues would arise."

Natsumi nodded, once again cursing her royalty.

"Come on. We've almost entered the kingdom." Fuyuki led her into the cave system.

The first thing Natsumi noticed was how bright the caves were, filled with weird crystals that glowed and illuminated all of the cave.

"Wh-what...?" she gasped.

"The kingdom of justice is known for its plentiful supply of crystals. They're all very pretty. I don't know if they have magical quality, but some believe they do," Fuyuki replied with a scholarly amount of knowledge.

"So... is the kingdom magical?" Natsumi didn't know much about where they were fleeing to, just that crime was very low and it was safe. She didn't know much about magic, either. She had heard most magic, besides the mermaids' magic, was dark, and people used it for their own purposes.

"I... I don't know. I've heard the kingdom's ruler is two thousand years old, though! She might know magic," Fuyuki told her.

She didn't care if the ruler had magic. All she cared about was if the ruler was kind.

* * *

It took awhile for the two siblings to finally make it out of the large crystal tunnels. They set Natsumi's mind at ease, almost making her forget the previous sadness about Giroro.

_They're so beautiful... _She finally stepped out of the caves to have her first sight of the Kingdom of Justice.

Natsumi gasped for a moment as she laid eyes on the castle in the distance. It was completely made of crystal. The town almost looked sparkling below it, the grass green and luxurious, and the sky a wonderful blue.

"Well, this kingdom certainly seems perfect," she remarked.

"I wonder why the dictator didn't attack this place before us. It certainly seems to have more important minerals and all sorts of other stuff." Fuyuki was thinking of the bigger picture, wondering why the place wasn't a target for attack.

"What's the plan when we get to the castle?" Natsumi asked.

"Tell them we're the prince and princess from the Third Kingdom. Our alliance should make it so that the ruler will help us," Fuyuki told her. "All we need to do is enter the castle."

* * *

Walking through the town around the castle was easy. Everyone waved to Natsumi and Fuyuki, not making fun of their rags at all. They all seemed so kind.

"This... is kind of weird..." The people seemed perfect to Natsumi. The kingdom was perfect; everything was perfect, what was going on?

"Excuse me?" Fuyuki asked a friendly-looking man who was fixing up the roof of his house. "We're travelers from another kingdom, so we're not very familiar with the area. Is there any way to get into the castle and see the ruler?"

"Why, yes." The man tipped his hat to them in greeting. "Our princess encourages anyone to speak to her if they need to. Just asking to see her when she's on the throne should be easy enough."

"The princess wants to talk to commoners? Why?" Natsumi was confused.

"She likes talking to us. Well, she likes... seeing us. ...Are you going to see the princess? I'd recommend against it. It's not very... safe..."

_Ah. There's the problem. The princess. Perfect places usually have some sort of secret about them, _Natsumi thought to herself.

"What's not safe about it?" Fuyuki asked. "We need to see her."

"It's just... You haven't heard the rumors?" the man asked.

"What rumors?"

"Our kingdom... is the Kingdom of Justice. Anyone who does evil here, who thinks evil thoughts... is killed. Our princess has a mysterious power to see wrongdoing. To keep our kingdom just, she executes the criminals. Everybody who gets executed deserves to die, but just... some of the people are afraid to see her, afraid that she'll look into their soul... It's said that she has three eyes." The man shivered for a moment. "Although nobody gazes upon our princess, she's still loved by the people. A divine ruler who is never looked upon or seen."

"What a lonely life. Nobody sees her?" Natsumi asked.

"Nobody wants to," the man reaffirmed.

Natsumi almost felt bad for this princess who ruled her kingdom so well that the people were afraid of her.

* * *

They stood in front of the castle gates and knocked on them, hoping that they'd open.

"What is your business in the castle?" one of the rare employees in the castle asked, manning the gate.

"We're here to see the princess!" Natsumi begged. "I'm the princess from the Third Kingdom that was recently attacked. I'm here seeking shelter!"

"You're dressed in rags. How could you be a princess?" the man challenged. "How do we know you haven't come to assassinate our princess?"

"He doesn't believe us..." Fuyuki realized.

"If you don't let us in, I'll have to climb up your gate!" Natsumi threatened, hot-tempered now.

"I will let you in," the man replied, "but only because the princess will see if you are actually telling the truth... And if you aren't, you'll be dead." He let out a laugh.

Fuyuki gulped, even though he knew the man was telling the truth. He felt almost like it was a violation of privacy for someone to look into his very soul. He felt uncomfortable.

Natsumi stood bravely, just letting the man open the gate. She had seen her mother die, had her friend cast her aside, and had one of her knights try to kill her. She was unafraid of a princess from another kingdom.

* * *

They were led by nobody into the throne room. The castle was quite large, but empty.

"Villagers! Finally!" A girl with silver hair sat in a crystal throne, smiling. All of Natsumi and Fuyuki's fear evaporated as they saw her warm and bright smile.

She looked like the kindest person in existence.

"I told all the townsfolk in my kingdom that if they had a problem to come to me. But for some reason, nobody ever does..." The girl looked quite sad. "So, what is it that's your problem or suggestion?" She clapped her hands together, ready to listen to their request.

"We're actually not townspeople. We're from the Third Kingdom," Fuyuki told her.

"Ah. The Kingdom of the West. How's it doing? I get so little news from the other kingdoms. Last time I checked in with anything, it was conquered by some guy. Can you imagine my surprise? It was so weird. I thought we had a system where princesses ruled, not conquerors." The girl gabbed on as if she was already friends with the two strangers.

She didn't even complain how they didn't bow in her presence.

"Our kingdom has been attacked," said Natsumi. "Attacked and taken over by the conquerer of the Second Kingdom."

"Ah... well, that's too bad." The girl frowned. "I suppose he's getting more powerful... But as long as he doesn't touch my kingdom, I can have no quarrel with him." She waved her hand. "But you're probably not here for revenge; I don't grant revenge. I only kill if somebody is absolutely evil. And the number of evil souls in my kingdom is very low, hopefully at zero."

"We came here for safety. My brother and I aren't normal townspeople. We're the Prince and Princess of the Third Kingdom who escaped the attack." Natsumi bowed in respect now. "I need you to shelter us and keep us safe. Your kingdom is supposed to be the safest one."

"And it is!" The silver-haired girl giggled. "My kingdom is extremely safe!" Then she frowned, "But... how do I know you're who you say you are? That you are indeed a prince and princess?"

"Well... you have a way of telling if we're evil or not, right?" Fuyuki asked, realizing that he had to let the girl judge him.

"Oh yeah! That's right!" the girl giggled, as if she had forgooten. She was rather naive, almost innocent. "I was hoping for you to say something like 'you can trust us' or something sweet like that. I don't much like having to use my judgment skill to be a human lie detector."

_She's super naive... and innocent. How can someone like this be a feared ruler for over two thousand years? _Natsumi knew that if anyone had actually seen this girl, nobody would be afraid.

The silver-haired girl stepped out of her throne, her cape floating behind her. She seemed pretty mystical as she stood before them.

_I guess maybe her magic makes her feared... _Natsumi thought. That was when the girl opened her third eye, located on her forehead.

Natsumi shivered for a moment, unused to seing someone with three eyes. At one point, it had looked like the girl had a normal forehead, but now it was like a symbol was drawn on it. A symbol that could only see souls.

"I will judge you first. You two are clear on what happens if your number of wrongdoings is too high, correct?" the girl asked.

"Wh-what?" Fuyuki asked.

"I'll have to kill you on spot. I can't have sin tainting my kingdom," she spoke.

"But doesn't that make you just as bad as someone who's killed?" Fuyuki asked as the princess turned to him to go first.

"Of course it doesn't, silly! I'm doing an important job that I was made for! You could say, cut off the part to save the whole?" Her outlook on the world was not as innocent as she was.

Fuyuki felt shivers running down his spine as she looked at him.

"You seem innocent enough! You're quite a kind person!" she smiled, not knowing his name.

"My name is Fuyuki. And I am indeed the prince of the Third Kingdom," he told her. He was frowning at her, almost feeling violated.

"Now your turn.—What's your name?" the silver-haired girl asked Natsumi.

"Natsumi. My name is Natsumi. Yours?"

"Angol Mois." Mois smiled. Then she gazed at Natsumi. "You are indeed who you say you are, but your number of wrongdoingsis quite higher than your brother's. It's going down, though. You're trying to redeem yourself!" She smiled. "And that... is the best feeling ever. Seeing someone trying to self-improve."

Natsumi knew what Angol Mois was talking about. Her actions against Keronians.

"Well. You're both who you say you are! I would be honored to let you stay in my castle being safe!" she hummed. "My home is your home! Please explore to your hearts' delight!"

"Ummm... just like that? You're going to let us live here that easily?" said Natsumi. _Boy this girl is lonely. She must not have many friends in her court._

"Why wouldn't I? You're both trustworthy. I've seen that now. A soul can not lie, after all," said Mois. "Also, I've never had the chance to live with another girl around my age! Well, my physical age."

_Ah... she wants to be friends, _Natsumi realized. She smiled at the innocent girl. Her last friend had cast her aside, but she had a feeling that Angol Mois would never do that.

"Thank you very much, Mois," Natsumi told her.

She already felt safe in the kingdom, safe by Mois's side.

Maybe Giroro was doing what was right, sending her there. And maybe she'd see Giroro again when he became a knight.

* * *

Natsumi got too distracted exploring everything in the castle that was so new. Fuyuki tried to catch her to talk to her, but Natsumi was just too energetic.

Instead, Mois caught her wandering around the halls.

"You're still dressed in those clothes, I see... Would you like some new ones?" Mois offered.

"Umm... Yes, please," Natsumi decided. Angol Mois led her to a room filled with clothes.

"I've never really worn anything besides my normal clothes, but I get a lot of gifts," said Mois. "You're free to take any."

"Really?" Natsumi was so relieved to get back into normal clothes. She grabbed a nice pink dress that she assumed would look nice on her. She turned to Mois.

"You've... Really never worn any of these?" she asked.

"Yep. I don't know what looks good on me or how to even wear Pekoponian clothes," she admitted bashfully.

_She is so innocent. Why does this girl have no parents? Who's teaching her anything? She's been around two thousand years and she's never tried on beautiful clothes. Well, I'm going to change that! _Natsumi felt determined.

"You've got such a pretty doll-like body, though. You're going to try on these clothes. Here, I'll help you!" she told her.

"R-really?" Mois's eyes lit up. Natsumi grabbed the closest thing to her.

"Now. You'll be busy the rest of the day, and we'll clean out this closet and find what looks best on you."

Mois nodded her head enthusiastically, super excited.

* * *

Natsumi had never had a younger sister. She sometimes wanted Fuyuki to be a younger sister when she was younger so she could dress him up in cute clothes and talk about stuff with him, but he was still a boy.

Mois was everything she ever wanted. She needed guidance and enjoyed every girly thing Natsumi wanted to do.

It made Natsumi smile widely. When she and Giroro had been friends, it had been a bond forged because of their dreams, companionship, fighting ability, and all they had gone through.

Her friendship with the princess Mois, however, was a bond formed from a need for companionship and guidance. Mois was so naive and innocent, but enjoyed a great many activities, including reading old fairy tales and melting from every romantic aspect in them.

She was a completely different type of friend than Giroro was. It made her forget the sadness and rebuild her heart.

"I've never had a friend before. Or anyone to hang out with, really," Mois admitted, tired from all the clothes that they had tried on.

"You want to jump in all these reject clothes?" Natsumi asked, giggling and ready for some light-hearted fun.

"W-we can do that?" said Mois.

"It's not illegal. I mean, you make the laws here, remember?" she pointed out. Mois nodded and took Natsumi's hand, jumping into the pile with her and giggling almost as much as Natsumi did.

* * *

When evening hit, Natsumi was led to what would be her room from now on.

"Sorry. I sleep a lot, so I'll have to take my leave now. It was fun spending time with you!" said Mois.

"It was fun hanging out with you too, Mois." Natsumi gave another smile, one that made her feel childish, young, and innocent. Angol Mois was infectious. It made her happy for the first time since her mother's death.

Natsumi yawned and entered her room, exploring it as soon as Mois left.

There was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she ordered, wondering if it was a servant. She doubted Mois's castle had any.

Instead, Fuyuki came in carrying a large bag.

"Phew. I can finally talk to you. I've been trying to have some alone time with you for the whole day," he said.

"What's wrong, Fuyuki? What's with that bag?" Natsumi suddenly felt a sense of worry erupt in her, the wounds from Giroro reopening.

"Sis... I-I can't be here. This kingdom... The princess... It all feels so wrong. It's too perfect. She looks into people's souls... She scares me," he confessed.

"She won't do it again. Once is enough," Natsumi told her brother.

"But there's another thing, too..." He looked downward. "I can't be near you, Natsumi."

_What...? _Natsumi felt like she was going to cry. "Wh-why?" she asked.

"Because..." Fuyuki's eyes met with hers. "I can't face how I've lied to you."

"Lied about what?".

"Dad... He's not going to find died in the attack," he told her. Natsumi felt her heart break again. Tears started pouring down her cheek.

Her dad had been the only hope left she had.

"I lied to you about it... I didn't want you to be sad. But the nightmares of his death haunt my mind every night. I can't sleep. I can't stay in one place like this, left alone with only my mind."

_I better... not tell him about mom... _Natsumi decided, after what he said. Her poor younger brother was in such distress.

"What are you going to do, then?" she asked him.

"Ever since I entered this kingdom, I've been thinking about what to do. And I've finally decided," he said. "I'm going to do what I couldn't do as a Prince. Leave from all of it. Explore, adventure, just like what Dad would want. I left the castle for a bit to arrange for a crew and ship, and I've decided to set out on the open sea. I'm going to see the wall that all our armies are being sent to defend. I want to learn more about the world past it. I want to learn more about our world. When I have that new knowledge, it will have replaced the memories of dad's death, and I will finally be able to sleep," he explained.

"Fuyuki... Don't... Don't leave me, too..." Natsumi was crying now, gripping her brother's shoulder.

"I have to. And you'll be fine. I'm glad you're getting along with Mois." Fuyuki smiled. "It makes this a lot easier."

"At least... come back someday... Stay safe." Natsumi hugged him.

"I promise I will. I love you, sis." Fuyuki hugged her back.

"Love you, too." She didn't want Fuyuki to leave, to decide this was the best time to grow up. But he was doing that.

With that, he took his bag and departed leaving Natsumi alone with a new gaping wound in her heart.

Fuyuki was gone, gone to pursue life as an adventurer. And although she was happy for him - he was living his dream - she was sad that he was gone.

She didn't know if it was the last time she'd see her brother or not. So she cried on her bed for the rest of the night, mourning what might happen to him on the open sea.


	9. Pair Formed

**So...Instead of focusing on Natsumi, I'm going to do another flashback this chapter and character back story. Did anybody forget about Dororo?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

"We conquered another kingdom. Our kingdom's just getting bigger and bigger, and it's all thanks to his majesty!" A couple was in Dororo's store, shopping for shoes.

He sighed, hoping they would buy something. The job of a cobbler was something that had been passed down in his from his family for generations, but the skill to make shoes was something he did not possess.

All of the shoes the couple perused looked like little gremlins.

_No wonder they won't buy anything and just keep chatting..._Dororo listened into their conversation, anyway. It wasn't not like they would get mad at him for eavesdropping. Nobody ever noticed him.

"His majesty is so smart and handsome!" the woman giggled.

"I'm so glad we have him ruling the kingdom instead of our old system where a princess ruled," said the man.

Around maybe eleven years back, the kingdom that Dororo knew and loved, the Kingdom of the East, had been conquered by a traveling dictator. Dororo barely kept up with the current events, so he barely knew about him. All he knew was that people seemed to love him.

_I wish they would love my business, too. _he wished. He knew it was probably his fault for being bad at making shoes, or being so stealthy that nobody noticed him. People who did want shoes just robbed him, since they were unaware he was even there.

He usually let them rob him, if they looked especially poor. Dororo had a large heart, and he always wanted to be as helpful as could be.

The couple left his store, having purchased nothing.

Dororo sighed. It had been a long day, and not a single pair of shoes had been sold. He was growing poorer and poorer. He only had enough material for one more pair of shoes, and if he didn't sell them he was doomed.

It was time for a long night of hard work. Dororo lit a candle and put some bread on a plate, leaving it on the floor.

"Spirits of the world, please be good to me. I hope you eat well tonight." Dororo was very superstitious, and every night did the same thing, offering food to the spirits.

Didn't help his business much.

He turned around and went to work on his shoes.

* * *

Dororo got distracted after one stitch. He had never been interested in shoes, never been very good at it.

All he wanted to do was help the world be a better place, stop the poor from being hurt, stop Keronians like himself from being hurt, stop the weak from having terrible lives...

He wanted to be helpful.

So instead of finishing the shoe, he resumed what he usually did every night. He trained his body for the day that he could someday help someone from a fate they didn't want or need.

He did push-ups ran in place, threw knives and hit the wall. He made no shoes

_It's not like I make very good ones, anyway, _he always reminded himself.

* * *

He fell asleep halfway through the night on top of his work table. He hadn't done anything shoe-related whatsoever.

But when Dororo awoke, the most glorious pair of shoes was before him, gloriously stitched and handcrafted.

"Wh-who... Who did this?" he wondered. They were perfect.

He easily sold them for a nice sum that day to a young woman walking by.

_The family business... It might not die after all! _Dororo smiled. _At least not if I keep making shoes like this... But I didn't make these, so who did?_

He decided to find out.

* * *

Dororo was very stealthy, practically unnoticeable as he waited in the shadows to see who had made such fine pair of shoes.

He waited until it was midnight, and then from a little mouse hole in the wall, tiny little elf-like creatures walked out, taking the bread that he left out for them.

_The spirits! It's magic! _Dororo realized. They hopped up onto Dororo's table and began working on his shoes using their little elf magic.

"B-but... Wh-why?" Dororo finally croaked out, making his presence known. The elves glanced at him, surprised he was there.

"So... You've found out," one spoke.

"Yes. But why use your magic to help me, of all people?" Dororo asked.

"Because you're the only one who's been nice to us. Nobody else believes in the old legends about spirits and magic. You have a kind heart. A heart that should not be used on shoes. We wanted to help you, make sure you didn't go into debt and starve. After all," said the elf, "your food is our food."

"Th-thank you." Dororo bowed. "I am quite honored to have your help."

"You are quiet a polite one," the elf laughed.

"But if my destiny isn't with shoes, what is it with?" Dororo asked, wondering what his heart was good for.

"Your fate was never with shoes, let's be honest here. You're terrible with 'em. Your heart was made for kindness," the elf told him. "Now... Since you're terrible with shoes and now know of our presence, how about we make a sort of deal? We'll be working to make these shoes from now on so that you don't go poor, but you don't want to do just nothing, correct?"

"You'll help me? Oh, thank you!" Dororo eyes watered. He wondered what they wanted in return. "What would you like me to do?"

"Help others. During the nights, we'll sneak out and make these shoes, and you'll use your time to help others, to protect those weaker than you. All of us elves have seen you training. You should be strong enough for that," the elf said with a smile.

Dororo smiled, too. It was a chance to live his dream.

He would help people during the nights, make sure nobody was hurt. It was the perfect deal.

"I will do whatever is in my power to help others," he vowed.

* * *

All Dororo did to change his appearance was put on a cooler mask. Hee stood atop his village on a pole, scouting for evil.

He easily found it when some people were robbing a poor family.

"Hyah!" Dororo swung down, kicking one of the robbers in the face.

"Who are you, Keronian?" the robber asked.

"Someone who fights for the weak." Dororo twirled around and delivered another swift kick.

After a few more kicks and punches from the Keronian who was much more agile than them, they dashed away, not wanting to be further beaten up.

"Th-thank you... You saved me!" a little girl from the family thanked Dororo.

Dororo smiled. Helping others was always self-rewarding.

His vigilante career started with that mission. There was always evil in the towns and villages, so he was always busy.

At first, he thought he was the only one fighting for justice, but one day as he stood upon a rooftop, he saw another, a girl with a mask and a very large, tight bun, staring down at him.

"Hey," she smiled, looking at him like a cat.

"Hello." Dororo was surprised to see someone else surveying the town below for chaos. "Who are you?"

"Just some person," the girl replied. "What about you? What are you doing here?"

"Helping," he responded. "I'm trying to find evil and vanquish it. I want to help all the people below overcome whatever dread is happening to them."

"That's nice. But that's also kind of my job," said the girl. Her ears perked up for a moment. "I hear something. A baby's in trouble. Got to go!" She hopped from rooftop to rooftop.

_You aren't ditching me that easily. I want to help, too. _Dororo harbored no ill will toward this other vigilante, but almost felt a friendly rivalry between them. He followed the girl as she got to the riverbank.

She put a finger to her lips to quiet him and pointed to the riverbank. A kidnapper was holding a baby in a blanket, and then it threw the child into the water.

The vigilante girl darted forward at the same time Dororo did to catch the child. She jumped into the water and grabbed the baby.

Dororo, knowing the baby was now safe, turned to the kidnapper. "You'll regret doing that."

The mysterious girl threw Dororo a kunai knife. "Use this! You have no weapons!" she told him.

Dororo nodded, feeling good having a sort of ally on his side. Leaping forward, he faced the man in battle.

"You won't get me!" the kidnapper yelled.

"I will." Dororo threw the knife to the ground, pinning the man's shoe and foot to the ground. Leaping up, he grabbed some vines and charged forward to tie the man up.

"Ahh!" the man screamed, but Dororo did not kill him. Instead, he left him for any authorities to find and imprison.

The mysterious girl left to return the baby.

_Where did she go? _Dororo did not know.

Howevver, he knew that they had worked well together, and that she was quite kind.

* * *

He waited for her on their rooftop, and eventually she returned the following night.

She smiled "You're still here, huh?"

"You did well, saving the baby," Dororo told her.

"You did well, beating the kidnapper," she replied. "Why are you waiting for me, though? Is there something you need?"

"I only came here to offer my companionship. I was wondering... We both have the same goals in mind... Why don't we work together?"

"Work together? I... I don't know if I can... I can only do this at night, and... I don't think I can be with anyone... or meet anyone..." The girl looked sad.

Dororo wanted to help her. She looked a little lonely.

"I can only do this at night, too," he admitted. "So how about we both work together?"

"F-fine..." the girl agreed. "But only because you're really good at what you do!"

Dororo outstretched his hand to shake the girl's. "My name's Dororo."

"My name... is something I can't tell you. But you can use my codename, Snow. That should work." Snow was becoming more and more mysterious to him.

Even so, a partnership was formed.

* * *

The Keronian-Pekoponian vigilante duo became known across the kingdom. And as time went on, Dororo felt more and more intrigued by his partner.

At first, he wanted to prove himself just as capable as her, but eventually he became honestly worried about her and intrigued by the companionship they shared.

The two sometimes got in tight spots, but she always managed to save him, and he, vise-versa.

He wanted to learn who she was, her name, and all about her.

He had fallen in love with his vigilante comrade.

_Snow... I'll find out what secrets you hold. You disappear in the day to somewhere else. I'll find out who you are someday. _He was determined to find out about his mysterious comrade.

He vowed that he'd find who she really was, no matter what.


	10. Enchanter

**Okay, so I don't think we have many fairy tales yet ripped off of, but in the next chapter we do!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**This chapter is another flashback with Kululu.**

* * *

"DOWN WITH THE KERONIAN CONQUERER!" Peasants and people of all sorts had gathered outside of Kululu's castle, protesting. They didn't even seem to fear for their lives.

All they knew was that it was wrong for a Keronian to be in power.

Kululu was growing tired of their protests. Several attempts on his life had already been made.

_How can I get my revenge if nobody will follow me? _He knew what the protests came down to. It was his looks. They didn't care if he was evil at heart or if he was the best ruler ever. All they cared about was that he was an ugly Keronian.

All the guards that were supposed to protect the king had turned against him, joining the protests and throwing rocks at him when he tried to address the people.

Nothing was turning out right. If he even set foot out of the castle, the people tried to kill him.

_Maybe... I just have to hide in here... Wait for the commotion to die down... _Kululu hoped that would work.

So he bolted up the castle doors, locking himself inside. No servants were allowed in; nobody was allowed into his castle.

He made it his home of solitude and safety.

_I-I'll be safe here... _he told himself.

* * *

Nobody dare come close to the castle. They had heard the rumors of the evil soul who lived in it.

The people didn't like being ruled by a Keronian, but they were also afraid of him, due to his inventions. His inventions, they'd heard, had wiped out the royal family.

Kululu stayed locked up in his castle, until one day, when somebody finally approached it.

The people made room for him in their protests, almost as afraid of the traveler as they were of their dictator.

He was a traveling enchanter, a wizard with dark magic, someone looking for only the best shelter.

He barged past the locked gates, not caring about them. He knew if anybody refused his stay, he would just curse them. That's how he worked, cursing the people he didn't like.

He knocked on the large doors of the castle three times. "I'm a traveling wizard looking for shelter. May I come in? If you don't let me in, you'll have to face my wrath!" said the egomaniac.

On the other side of the door Kululu listened. To the shock of the people, he opened the doors, allowing the wizard inside to rest.

"Thanks," said the wizard.

"The dictator... Is he scared?" The people gasped in shock.

They didn't know if it was out of fear or kindness that he opened his doors. In reality, it was neither.

Kululu had opened his doors for a whole different reason - because he liked crushing people with a big ego. He opened his doors out of jerkiness.

He had a plan.

* * *

The wizard, who Kululu could now see was a salmon-colored Keronian, warmed his hands by the fire.

"Name's Tororo," he greeted. "Pu, pu, pu. Anywhere I can sit?"

"Of course." Kululu took a venomously sweet tone as he dragged up a chair with glue on it. _It's been a while since I've had anyone to play with. Time to be a jerk till the end! Ku, ku, ku._

Tororo sit down, leaning back and getting comfortable, unaware he had just been glued to a chair.

Kululu started laughing, "Ku, ku, ku!"

"What's so funny?" Tororo asked, squirming around.

"Nothing." Kululu wiped a tear from his eye.

Tororo didn't seem pleased by the laughter. "I'm thirsty. Can I have something to drink?" he said.

"Of course.~" Kululu left to get the spicest drink he could find. He came back pretty quickly. "Be sure to drink up.~"

Tororo did, and after a moment, he screamed. "AAAAH!"

"Oh...? You don't like spicy drinks? My bad," he said. Tororo tried to get up to find water to cool his searing throat. His chair came up with him.

"Wh-what...? What's going on?"

"You didn't like glue on your chair? My bad again," Kululu laughed, "Ku, ku, ku."

"H-how dare you! I'm a great wizard, this is a great insult!" Tororo's face boiled with rage. "I curse people for just not letting me into their homes, so you have no idea what you're going to get."

"The only insult here is your face. Oh, actually, your smell too. Do you ever bathe?" Kululu put a hand over his nose and gagged.

Tororo tried to run over to him to throttle him. Kululu easily dodged, since a chair was now plastered to Tororo's butt.

"The best thing ever is it's permanent~! Ku, ku, ku!" Kululu laughed at his latest invention, permanent glue. _That's what the brat gets for having such a big ego. And anyway, I'm not afraid of his so-called "curse." I know all magic is fake, anyway. Only science exists, and he doesn't look that smart to me. _Kululu was unafraid of getting cursed as Tororo chased him throughout the castle.

Tororo hobbled all the way up to the second story, up to Kululu's balcony.

"Too slow." Kululu dodged as Tororo leaped at him and flew off the balcony into the mud, a crowd of people watching as the "great wizard" humiliated himself.

Everybody laughed, mostly Kululu.

"HOW DARE YOU! TAKE THIS GLUE OFF OF ME!" Tororo yelled from the ground. "I'll curse you... I'll double curse you! I'll give you the worst curse of them all!"

"Yeah, right. Magic doesn't exist, so there's no way you could curse me. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed. He quickly ducked back into his castle before everybody threw rocks at him.

Tororo struggled to stand up, a chair still on his butt. He loudly knocked on the doors so Kululu would let him in again.

_Ku, ku, ku. Doesn't even have a fake magic spell to open my doors. Pathetic, _Kululu laughed to himself.

But Tororo kept banging.

* * *

_The real curse must be this annoying banging. He's certainly tenacious. _Kululu hadn't gotten much sleep in that week. Tororo had continuously been trying to get into his castle to curse him.

Kululu needed to stop the little bugger before he went insane. So in the middle of the night, he finally opened the door.

"Shut up! Just get out of here! I'm not letting you in again; you've already amused me!" Kululu yelled. No crowds were around; it was just Tororo and him.

But now that he had opened the doors, Tororo just smiled. He didn't try to get in; he just stared at Kululu.

"I didn't want to get inside, I just wanted to see you," Tororo told him.

"Ew. Gross," Kululu retorted.

"Pu, pu, pu... If you want to see gross, look in a mirror after I'm done with you..." His hands began to glow, and a beam from them shot at Kululu. "Magic around me, curse this horrible creature to be the ugliest thing in the known universe, as ugly as he is on the inside. Let it the spell only be broken if..." Tororo chuckled a bit. "If somebody loves him for the stupid vile jerk he is on the inside, and if he accepts their love in return! Pu, pu, pu!" he laughed. "Sorry, magic thing. I always have to add a clause that explains how to break a spell. It sucks."

Kululu boredly watched as the aura that had shot him encircled him.

_Ku. So what kind of trick is he trying to pull? Is he going to say something like, "It didn't work because you're already ugly! Ooh, burn," and then pat himself on the back? What's going to happen? _Kululu wondered how Tororo would excuse nothing happening.

Instead, he heard a loud cracking noise, a cracking of the so-called magic bubble around him. The spell was breaking; it wasn't working.

_Ku. Even more priceless. His trick is backfiring. _Kululu laughed more, but as he laughed, he grew taller and taller. He looked down at his hands. To his surprise, he saw that they were changing, growing bigger and more humanoid.

_Wait... Wh-what's happening? _Kululu wondered._ My body is actually changing... Maybe he is using some sort of science to do this._

By the time the magic bubble had evaporated around him, he knew his body had changed. He was cold and large and felt hair on the top of his head.

"Wh-wh-what...?" Tororo seemed to be in shock.

Kululu felt around his face - he was clearly a human now. Frowning, he grabbed a mirror and looked into it, to see his new appearance.

"You changed me into a pretty boy!" Digusted and surprised, Kululu glared at Tororo.

"I didn't mean to! I tried to make you the ugliest thing ever! Not the prettiest! Th-the magic must have backfired because you were already so ugly that it changed you into something horribly attractive! ARGH! I didn't mean for this to backfire so badly!" Tororo just clutched at his head, horrified that he had helped someone.

"Ku, wow, you sure do suck," Kululu told him. He tried to pretend that he was happy with what had happened, just to rub it in Tororo's face, but in reality he didn't like what had happened one bit. _Yuck. I'm some weird Pekoponian. What do I do now? _He was unused to his new form, and unused to a mirror not cracking when he saw himself. "Are you going to change me back?" he wondered, hoping Tororo would take the magic away. _If you can't, I'll just make a ray gun to make me back into a Keronian._

"I can't. There's only one way to change back. True love, remember?" Tororo reminded him. "I'm just going to leave and pretend this mistake never happened. Maybe you'll dislike it. Pu, pu, pu! I hope you do!" Tororo waddled a way to search for a magic powerful enough to remove the chair from his butt.

Kululu groaned in annoyance.

* * *

His ray guns wouldn't do anything to his appearance. He remained a pretty boy, and could do nothing about it.

Maybe he had been cursed, after all.

He was so annoyed even that he went to his balcony to think. He expected rocks to be thrown at him, but instead, the people froze.

"Who are you?" they asked.

"Your ruler, who else?" he responded. They threw down their protest signs.

"You must have taken out that awful, disgusting keronian. We will gladly follow you anywhere," they vowed. "Someone as good-looking as you must have a wonderful heart."

_Wow, talk about shallow. They're only judging me on my looks. Life doesn't work like that! Good-looking people might not have good hearts, and bad looking people aren't necessarily evil. Life isn't some stupid fairy tale, _Kululu thought to himself. Then he suddenly realized that the people were following him.

_Wait... I've conquered their hearts finally? Does that mean... this appearance is useful? ...Yes... I am a pretty boy now... Nobody can refuse me as long as I look good. That's the lesson I've just learned._

Kululu smiled. "I am honored by your allegiance. We have a lot to do, my subjects."

The subjects smiled at him and bowed.

Kululu was back in power of his kingdom.

_I suppose it's not necessary to go back to the old me, then. Manipulating peoples' hearts is much more useful than being disliked based on first appearances._

He knew one thing though from the lesson he learned: The best-looking people were the most evil at heart.

He would never trust anybody who looked as fabulous as he.

* * *

Years passed, and Kululu built his army to be stronger and stronger so that he could finally attack the Third Kingdom that had wronged him.

He would kill everybody who had been there. The queen, the king, the princess. They would all die.

His appearance had been quite useful. Sometimes annoying at the constant suitor requests. But very useful.

The day had finally arrived for his attack. He made sure the army was in the best condition.

"It's time to kill them and take the land that will soon be ours!"

* * *

The battle had gone well. Well enough. He had killed Queen Aki with his own hands, but as he had murdered her, the princess had gotten away. The prince, too, had fled the castle.

He ordered people to find her, but none returned with her whereabouts. She had escaped.

"If people can't do something right, you have to do it yourself," he sighed. He began to make a new invention, something that the people would probably confuse again as magic - a mirror that could show him anything he desired.

"If somebody says this is a magic mirror, I'm going to puke," he gagged as he made the magic mirror.

After a week, it was ready, and he was ready to find the royal siblings he had lost.

"Show me Prince Fuyuki," he ordered. An image appeared of Fuyuki dressed in normal clothes, boarding a boat, to travel the open seas. "Peculiar. Ku, where's his sister?" Kululu knew lots of boats suffered accidents on the open sea. He didn't even need to follow Fuyuki; the kid would just die on his own.

But Natsumi... He wanted to kill her, he wanted her dead. He knew of her cruelty towards Keronians, and he had never forgiven her for crying at the sight of his face.

"Show me Princess Natsumi!" A new image appeared, one of Natsumi dressed in a fine gown, modeling in front of some crystals that reflected her appearance.

He knew enough geography to know where she was. She was in the castle in the Kingdom of Justice.

"So... She fled to the fourth kingdom, huh? Ku, ku, ku... Suits me well. I needed more kingdoms to add to my empire..." Kululu smiled as he saw Natsumi. "This changes nothing. I'll still be able to kill her. And I swear that I will... I will get my revenge."

He laughed wickedly as Natsumi remained blissfully unaware of his plans.


	11. Glass Slippers

**Okay, I can finally recap on who fits with each fairy tale in this story.**

**Dororo: Cobbler**

**Koyuki: Rapunzel **

**Giroro: Cinderella**

**Kululu: Evil Queen, Most evil things, fairy god mother and the Beast. **

**Everybody else: ?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Natsumi curled up in her room, still sad from Fuyuki's departure.

"Fuyuki... Why'd you have to leave, too?" The only friend she had left now was Angol Mois. Although the two had become fast friends, she still felt very much alone.

The question to her was, would Mois leave her too?

* * *

The answer was no. Angol Mois tried to cheer Natsumi up from Fuyuki leaving. She talked to her and hung out with her constantly.

Sometimes, she left to rule her kingdom, but she was truly a blissfully naive and cheerful girl.

Natsumi quickly found herself caring for the girl, and became genuinely happy spending time with her. It was like all the misery had finally ended.

Mois and Natsumi were laughing one day and gossiping in the throne room when a stranger walked in.

"Who is he?" Natsumi asked, pointing to the man dressed in garbs that covered his entire face.

"Ah, my adviser, actually. I only see him about once every month, but he does... How do you say it? Oh yeah! Advising!" Mois clapped her hands. "He must have come early this month because he heard of the alliance between our two kingdoms and how you're here."

"Yes, I have. Most everybody knows about Princess Natsumi staying in the castle," tThe adviser told her. He wore a mask that had an "N" on it. Natsumi knew it didn't stand for Adviser, though.

"Do you think I'm in danger here? Or endangering the kingdom?" Natsumi asked.

"Oh, no, no, no!" The man waved his hands in defense. "I don't have any problem with you staying here. I know that your kingdom was attacked by a dictator in the east, but I don't think he'll attack this kingdom. Your people are probably revolting against him. He's got his hands full. An alliance and friendship with a princess of true royalty is always good," the man told her. He was unaware that Natsumi's people had given themselves to the dictator because of his beauty.

"Then why are you here early?" Natsumi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I actually wanted to talk about your friendship. It's the perfect excuse to set up an event that the Princess Mois and I have been talking about, and it will give the people something to distract themselves from this time of war," said the advisor.

"Event...? What kind of event?" Natsumi asked.

"I want to tell!" Mois bolted up, making herself the center of attention. "We're going to hold a ball! I didn't know when was a good time, but I suppose my adviser is right that an alliance would be a good excuse for it!"

"Wh-what... Why a ball? Why did you want to throw a ball?" Natsumi asked. She could tell by the way Mois had needed an excuse to throw a ball that there was a layer of mystery underneath it. There was another reason she wanted a fancy dance.

"Well..." the adviser coughed awkwardly. "It's because Princess Mois is of marriageable age. Our kingdom has never had a king. She's never married, so when I suggested she find someone suitable to marry..."

"I only agreed to it if I found someone I truly loved. You could say, fairy tale romance? I'm only going to get married if it's 100% the right circumstances. So I did some research..."

"In inaccurate fairy tale books," the adviser added.

"And I realized that usually people fall in love at balls! They meet a stranger and they dance all night with them and then it turns out to be their true love!" Mois's eyes were sparkling. "Balls are the number one place to find romance!" She pumped her fists into the air.

"Why didn't you just throw a ball dedicated to finding a suitor, then...?" Natsumi wondered why she needed to be used as an excuse so that Angol Mois could flirt with guys. She giggled a bit at the girl's cute idea of romance. She really hoped it didn't crash and burn or something.

"Because I also read that _testing_ suitors is an important part of romance! Usually the royal family does that... But I'd rather just test them on my own! I want someone to seek me out without knowing that the whole point of the ball was for true love! That, and I didn't want to have to kill anybody on the day my ball. If people come only to marry me, it's very likely that they want the power of being king, meaning they'll have evil souls... When I find someone with an evil soul, I usually eliminate them on the spot. Oopsie!" Mois giggled as if she had tripped.

Natsumi frowned. "So you want a ball claiming to celebrate our friendship when really you just want to be picked up by guys?"

"Yep!" Mois answered honestly. Natsumi shrugged and laughed.

"Sounds like fun! You can count me in!" _I hope she actually does meet a good guy, though. It would be really sad if nothing came of it. But I suppose that's why you have a friend there, to make you feel better when things don't go perfectly. _"I'd love to go to a ball with you!"

The advisor bowed. "Then I will start promoting it, Princesses."

"Wait!" Natsumi yelled before he went. "Um... Why is it that you're wearing a mask with a big giant 'N' on your face?"

"Because I like everybody knowing my name. It's 'Narrator,' " The adviser answered honestly. He just wanted everybody to know him.

"Your... birth name?"

"Yep. My mother was a wonderful human being!" And with that he left, proud of his mother's creativity.

He ran into a wall, because with a mask on, he couldn't see. One of the prices of wanting everyone to notice you and know your name.

"He's a fun guy. Very informative," Mois explained. "I'm so excited for our ball! The narrator will deal with everything, but you have to help me look really nice! I want to look like a princess!"

"You are a princess, silly!" Natsumi pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but a pretty princess like _you_!" she complimented.

Natsumi blushed and smiled. "When I'm done with you, you'll look like an even prettier princess than me."

The two friends walked off hand-in-hand to prepare best they could, which included going over flashcards of what to say to Mois's potential suitors.

It was a fun day, and Natsumi finally felt the ache of Fuyuki and Giroro healing by just hearing Mois's enthusiasm and laughter.

* * *

Kululu sat in his castle, pondering what to do. It hadn't taken long for the news of the ball in the Kingdom of Justice to reach his ears. "Celebrating a friendship between two princesses open to all," he had heard.

It was the perfect time to strike Natsumi down, when she thought she was free of him and happy in the Kingdom of Justice.

"Open to all, huh? Ku, ku, ku... I suppose I'm going to a ball, then," he laughed. He knew that Natsumi would probably know what he looked like, though, meaning he probably couldn't get to close to her. "Darn. Since she's friends with the stupid princess, they'll throw me out..."

_Doesn't mean I can't go, anyway, and see how little Natsumi's doing... _Natsumi had alluded his grasp for far too long, anyway. There was a chance that she was stronger than he gave her credit for.

He wasn't going to go in blind and kill her. He was stronger than that. He needed to know her strengths and weaknesses. He needed to hire somebody who would befriend her at the dance and learn about her for him, a recon agent.

He'd go, too, just to make sure his recon agent did well, and maybe just to bide his time. But he needed someone else to dance with Natsumi, to win her over, to learn about her.

He needed somebody strong, who would listen to him. He needed an idiot.

"Show me an idiot, somebody who would willingly dance with that Princess Natsumi for me," Kululu ordered his mirror.

An image appeared of a red Keronian chopping wood in the forest.

"I suppose I've found my recon agent, then... Perfect. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.

He decided to set out then and make the acquaintance of the person he would hire. It was true that the agent was a Keronian, so Kululu brought the gun he had created long ago to try to break him from his curse - a gun that could change a Keronian into a human. He needed Natsumi to like this agent, after all, as he was aware she hated Keronians.

He set off.

* * *

It took him a while to get to the forest and navigate through it alone. He also hid behind a tree so he could surprise the Keronian, just to be an extra jerk.

By the time he met the Keronian, the ball was just two days away.

Giroro was chopping wood, when suddenly, he turned around and Kululu was there.

"Hello," Kululu smiled, showing off his teeth.

"AUGH! GHOST!" Giroro screamed in terror.

"Ku, ku, ku... I'm not a ghost, I'm... someone here to help you, if you'll help me in return," Kululu offered.

Giroro was too stupid to recognize his own dictator.

"You come out of nowhere and expect me to help you? What is it you even want? And why me, of all people?" Giroro's scratched his head. His mind was full of questions.

"You suit my purposes," Kululu answered simply. "And what I want is something to do with this princess named Natsumi..."

He saw Giroro perk up at the name.

_So he knows her... Maybe I can manipulate him more easily, then... _Kululu thought. From the wood that was on the ground, he figured the Keronian he was talking to was very strong. If things went well, perhaps he could use him for future purposes.

"Now... What is it that you want? I'm someone that can grant almost any wish," Kululu laughed momentarily. _This guy will probably think I'm some sort of magical fairy or something. Ku, people who believe in magic or random good things happening are so stupid._

"My... My only wish is to see Natsumi again," Giroro confessed. "But I can't... She hates Keronians, and we'll never be together because of what divides us."

"Ku, lucky for me the thing I need you to do is see Natsumi. I can turn you into a Peko - human..." Kululu knew only Keronians called humans Pekoponians, but it was still hard to drop the habit. "If you promise to help me learn more about Natsumi... tell me about her, be a sort of recon agent for me, tell me her strengths, weaknesses, all that jazz," he bargained. "You up to it?"

"Will it hurt Natsumi?" Giroro wondered. He didn't want to do anything that could hurt Natsumi.

"Of course not. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu told him. "Now, do we have a deal? Will you go to her ball for me and see her?"

Giroro smiled. "There seems to be no down sides. I suppose I will." He paused. "So, how are you going to turn me into a Pekoponian? Do I have to bring anything to you to make the magic work?"

_Knew he was an idiot. _Kululu smirked. "Yes. I need seven mice, some rags, and a pumpkin." He decided to have some fun.

Giroro left, and after a few minutes came back with all the things.

"Good." Kululu told him. "Now put all of those back because they were completely unimportant! You were foolish to go get them in the first place."

Growling, Giroro left with the mice and the pumpkin and rags. Then he came back.

"Actually, now that I think about it, you could use the rag," Kululu told him. "I won't be able to transform clothes onto you, so I don't really want to see your ugly body. Ku, ku, ku."

"So, wait... I'm not going to have clothes?" said Giroro.

"Clothes weren't part of our contract. Get them yourself," said Kululu, itching his nose in boredom.

Giroro groaned and went back for the rags. "Now... Now use your magic on me! I'm ready for it!"

Kululu took out a gun and shot Giroro. Giroro began to change. "The effects will last for three days," Kululu explained. "The dance is in two, so it should be fine. Welcome to humanity. It sucks."

Giroro looked at his hands in surprise. "I'm... I'm a Pekoponian!" He was so happy. Now there was at least a small chance for him and Natsumi. She didn't have to know he came from poverty.

"Ku, ku, ku. Don't mess up our request, now." Kululu turned his back to leave. "Wait... I do have some clothes for you, now that I think about it." Kululu took out some glass slippers. "These... These are magic," he lied. _Really I just want to laugh about how I put you in glass shoes that you'll probably break during the dance. You are going to be so incredibly awkward. It'll be hilarious. This gives me an even better reason to go, to laugh at you. _"Wear them during the dance and you'll be... better at dancing." He bit his tongue, trying so hard not to laugh.

"Thank you... I suppose you're like my own fairy godfather." Giroro was so happy for the gift, and was successfully conned.

"No problem. Happy to do my work anytime. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu laughed and left Giroro to his own idiocy.

_If things don't go well, at least they'll be fun, _he thought to himself.

Giroro's mind was not on how suspicious the stranger was, but on hope. _Natsumi... I'm finally a Pekoponian like you... We can finally be together. _He would finally be with her.


	12. Little Red Riding Hood

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Another chapter with Koyuki and Keroro. Next chapter will be visiting Fuyuki, and seeing how he's doing.**

* * *

Koyuki slipped into her tower, just before dawn arrived.

_I made it. _She breathed a sigh of relief. Her caretaker always showed up in the mornings, but he was busy during the nights.

The nights were the only time she had freedom.

She had a little more time, so she did some vertical push-ups, training her body to be stronger.

Kululu believed she couldn't make it out of her tower. He didn't know of the agility she had trained herself to have.

She had never forgotten the day he had murdered her parents, and she had never forgotten that she was a princess. She would never leave her people to be manipulated by that dictator. She would always help them. That was her job.

_My job that I thought I would always do alone, _she reminded herself. Recently she had made a partner, a teammate in her quest to help the people. A Keronian who she knew very little about. Deep down, she knew he was her friend. He was a kind soul. She could tell.

She almost wished she could meet with him, during the daylight, and spend time together - not as partners, but as friends.

But she could never tell him her secret. That she was the princess that the kingdom had lost so long ago. He was the type of person to make sure no harm was done to anyone. And if he knew of her imprisonment, he would try to free her.

But she knew nobody could stand up to the dictator that was Kululu.

"Koyuki!" Kululu's voice called from the bottom of the tower. "Let down your hair!" It was the way he got into the tower with no steps. Koyuki was confident that he could have just made something to get himself up instead of forcing her to grow her hair long and pull him up, but he was a cruel jerk who enjoyed the suffering of others. She knew he made her pull him up just to hurt her back.

Or he just enjoyed the absurdity of the situation.

Koyuki untied her bun, letting her long dark green hair out. She hated such long hair. But it had helped her learn to be stronger. She was now extremely strong, thanks to carting around such hair.

She put her hair on a pole, letting it fall to the ground as a sort of pully system. Then she began to wind it all up to bring Kululu up.

If she didn't, he'd come up anyway and scold her. It was best to make him think she was on his side. That way, he wouldn't have to visit her more frequently, and she could still experience her freedom of the night.

Kululu finally made it up, smiling at her.

"What is it you need?" Koyuki asked. One of the few things that she was genuinely pleased with was how Kululu used her as a sort of adviser. He didn't care about much except his own goals, so he didn't know how to govern the people. This made it so he always sought out her advise and she could tell him anything she pleased about how to make the people of the kingdom safer and more happy.

_I'm learning how to rule... To be a true princess... And someday, if I ever take back my kingdom, I will know what to do with it, _Koyuki reminded herself. She was pleased whenever Kululu asked for her advise.

"I need to know..." Kululu dumped out the contents of the bag he was carrying. "What looks better on me, this outfit or this one?" His question was extremely shallow and undramatic, something that she had never heard from Kululu.

"Why do you want to know? This doesn't seem very important..." she said.

"Oh, but it is... It's important to my goals. I need to look even better than I do normally..." He paused. "I'm going to a ball and I want girls to surround me so I'm not discovered by an enemy of mine," he explained.

The plan made sense for him, but Koyuki thought he hated the attention he got by female suitors. "I thought you hated girls flocking to you."

"I do... But some things must be sacrificed for my greater goals. Ick. I'm going to have to dance. Now, answer the question..." he said again. "Which is better?"

Koyuki pointed to one of the outfits, and Kululu nodded.

"Ku. That's what I thought, too," he agreed. "Thank you for your continuous support." With that, he forced her to undo her hair and re-lower him down.

Koyuki sighed. She was glad he was gone, but she was worried what he was planning.

She wished that her blue Keronian partner was next to her to talk to her and perhaps be able to read what Kululu's plan was.

* * *

Keroro hadn't talked to many of the villagers in his town. Well, they didn't really talk to him. But he did hear the latest rumors.

One of the biggest rumors that flew throughout his village was that a wild wolf lived in the forest. A wolf filled with evil who would pray upon people and steal their hard-earned food.

At first, Keroro was interested by the urban legend, but he slowly realized that the villagers weren't as interested. They were getting more and more tired by the thief that was stealing their food.

"What's next? Will the wolf eat out children?" the women of the village screamed.

It was their distress that caused them to invite Keroro to a town meeting for the first time, to plan what to do about the wolf.

* * *

Keroro had been living happily in the village, so he had been honored to attend a town meeting. After all, he had food that could have been stolen by the wolf, too.

Food was hard to replenish. They weren't all rich, and Keroro's freedom was something he was going to sacrifice just because a wolf decided to steal from him.

"We have to slay the wolf!" was the subject of the town meeting. The villagers gave a hurrah. "Before it eats our children or any more of our food!"

Everybody agreed that the wolf should be slayed before anything worse could happen. Nobody knew who should do the slaying.

"Hey... Keronian..." They finally addressed Keroro, the only Keronian in the room. It was the first time they had ever really talked to him. "You carry that dagger in your belt, right? Ever killed anybody?"

Keroro's most prized possession was the dagger he had protected Fuyuki with. He was pleased the villagers had noticed.

"Yes. Yes I have," he said.

"Then... We implore you... Please, kill the wolf for us. None of the rest of us have killed anyone before, and we... We don't know if we're strong enough. If you do this for us, you will always be hailed a hero," they told him.

Keroro liked the idea of being a hero. But something puzzled him. _They've slaughtered pigs everyday... Why should killing a wolf be a problem to their morality?_

"And... There's only one wolf?" Keroro wondered. He didn't know if wolves traveled in packs or didn't.

"Only one. With the most evil, black, soulless eyes ever." The villagers told him the legend. "He breathes smoke and can blow anything up with just one breath."

"Once, I had three pigs," a farmer told him. "They hid in shelters, but the wolf blew them up with his breath. It took a deep breath, and anything they hid in was destroyed. And then he ate my pigs. It's a dangerous wolf, a real creature of darkness."

Keroro listened, knowing he couldn't turn down the villagers' requests. "I'll do it," he told them. He could do anything with his dagger. "But... I must go into the forest undercover if I've been sent to kill this wolf."

"Is there anything we can give you to make you look undercover?" they asked.

"Does anybody have a cloak?" Keroro asked. Someone handed him a bright red cloak with a hood.

"This'll do." He put it on. It suited him. "I... I will kill your wolf! Do not worry! It will no longer steal your food!"

And with that, Keroro was dismissed from his first town meeting and thrown out into the forest.

* * *

Keroro was not brave, not by far. He even shook in his little red hood as he walked along the forest path.

Under his cloak, his dagger was hidden. He carried a basket filled of sweets - what the villagers had told him was the wolf's favorite food.

He had walked quite a distance until the sky was dark before he saw any sign of the wolf. Suddenly, growling came from the bushes. Keroro froze as a pair of dark eyes settled on him.

"Eep!" Keroro shook, knowing he had made contact with the wolf. _All their myths can't be true, right?_

Keroro held out his basket of sweets, hoping to use it as bait.

"I brought you a nice little snack..." He dropped the basket to the ground and backed away. He backed far enough away into the shadows that the wolf could no longer see him, so Keroro would be able to thrust the knife into its back.

He heard rustling in the bushes as the wolf crawled out to eat the gift it had been given.

"Hahaha! Got you now!" Keroro leaped forward to thrust the dagger into the wolf's shoulder. He forced himself to stop as soon as he saw the wolf's form.

There was no fur, just navy blue skin.

As the moonlight shone onto the "wolf," Keroro felt a chill run through his heart as he realized what he had been sent to kill was just a young Keronian boy - someone whose "black eyes of darkness" just looked sad and hungry.

The boy dropped his roll as he spied the dagger in Keroro's hand.

"H-have... have you been sent to kill me?" the "wolf" asked. Keroro felt dread fill his heart.

"Y-you've... You've been stealing food from the village..." Keroro tried to tell him what he had done wrong. _They knew they sent me to kill a Keronian. They knew this was no heartless wolf. It's just a kid. They dehumanized him until he was a wolf in their eyes._

"I... I don't have a home... I don't have anything... Where else am I supposed to get food to eat? I-I'll starve and die if I don't..." the Keronian boy told him with teary eyes.

Keroro felt shock run through his heart. _When I worked as a jester, I always knew there were Keronians with worse lives than mine. Keronians who lived in poverty with not even a roof over their head or any food to eat. This is one of those Keronians. And he's all alone... He's so young._ Keroro felt true pity in his heart.

"I'm glad that at least it was a Keronian they sent to kill me. I've never seen another Keronian in this forest before," the boy told him.

"I'm not going to kill you." Keroro threw his knife to the ground. "This is wrong. I was told to kill a wolf, not a young boy. Don't worry."

The boy's sad eyes grew to happier ones. "You... You're letting me live? Can I still eat this food?" he asked.

"Of course. Eat as much as you want." Keroro calmly sat on the ground, watching as the boy ate his fill - which was a lot. "What's your name?"

"My name? People have just called me wolf... I scare them sometimes, because... B-because..." A fly landed on the tree behind Keroro. "BECAUSE I BLOW UP THINGS WITH MY MOUTH! TAMAMA IMPACT!" Tamama blew up the fly, suddenly growing angry. After descimating the tree, he giggled innocently. Keroro's eye twitched. "My name is Tamama. What's yours, Mr. Wolf killer?"

"Keroro. My name is Keroro." He reached out his hand to shake Tamama's. Tamama just looked so happy to finally be treated like a person. Tamama took his hand, but Keroro then draped his other arm around his body, giving him a hug.

"Tamama... I'm not going to kill you, but leaving you to this life would be just as bad... And I have to make sure you don't steal from anyone anymore. So..." He squeezed him tighter. "Would you like to live with me? I can take care of you... I have enough money to provide for you. The village will isolate us both, but at least we have each other," Keroro offered him. "Please, don't go back to the forest. It'll be death."

Tamama's eyes widened, and small tears came down his face. He had never been offered something so beautiful. "Of course I'll go back with you!" He felt true happiness in his heart at Keroro's words.

Keroro had saved him from his life. It was like he was a prince charming. "I think I'm going to call you Mr. Hero."

"Umm... What about Keroro?" Keroro suggested.

"Nah." Tamama grinned. "I like this better."

He knew his and Keroro's life would be peaceful. He had not predicted that day that he would have fallen in love with his Keronian savior. But he did.

The two went back to the village hand in hand, and although Keroro wasn't known as a hero to the villagers, he was to Tamama.

And he remained in Tamama's heart forever as they lived together happily in the village. The only one they needed was the other.

Tamama's heart was filled with love instead of fear and solitude. He knew his new life would be a blissful one.

He was finally happy.


	13. The Little Mermaid

**Half way through! Half way through this story!**

**Here's another chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Fuyuki breathed the sea air in deeply. He had just boarded his ship to travel on the open sea.

It was enthralling being so close to adventure, and he knew the ship would take him close to the wall that kept out all sorts of fantastic creatures.

He would learn about new mysteries and discover them through his own eyes. It was like a dream come true.

_Day one aboard my ship, _Fuyuki wrote in his journal, _I saw a white bird called a seagull! It was so cool! It stole my lunch, though. Still interesting._

He smiled and finished his journal entry. He would write about every new discovery in his amazing journal. Every magical monster he saw, every creature would be documented.

And he'd be able to see it again at the flick of a switch.

* * *

A week had passed, a week of journal entries. He tried to address his journal politely and tell it everything he saw.

_I've been at sea for a week, but I still have yet to see anyone from the First Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Sea. I wonder, do mermaids really exist, or are they just mythical beings? I hope to find out! It would be nice to see! _As he finished his latest entry, the wind picked up speed, knocking his journal out of his hands and into the air.

"AAAH! NO!" Fuyuki screamed. He grabbed his journal before it flew off the boat, but a few loose pages still flew out. His introductory pages to who he was.

The flew away into the wind for him to never see again.

* * *

Princess Momoka sunbathed herself on a rock, letting her mermaid tail soak up the sun's beams.

She was all alone, even though she had a great rock for sunbathing.

None of the other mermaids ever talked to her or tried to hang out with her. She was a princess, it was true, but they were all under the impression that she thought she was better than them.

"That's not true! I want to spend time with them, too!" she cried out into the air, for only the wind to hear her.

She was lonely. She was a princess of an entire kingdom, but her people didn't want anything to do with her, thinking that she was stuck up.

"I don't want to be alone forever... Why can't they see that just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I don't want friends?" she moaned. She sat up to dry her hair.

That was when a page of a book flew into her face.

"WHAT WAS THAT? I'll KILL WHO DID THIS!" she vowed, her hair getting pointy. Looking around, she saw nobody.

It was just her and the wind. She peeled the page of the journal off her face and began to read it, curious.

_Hey, journal! My name is Fuyuki! We're going to get very acquainted in the future! I can't wait to tell you all about my adventures and learn all about the ocean. I mean, I can't swim at all, but it's still cool! Think of all those unknown mysteries in the deepest depths! The water looks so cool. I'm going to travel and learn as much as I can, and you, my precious journal, will be my only confidant! Isn't that cool? Oh wait, you can't write back... Oh, well. Anyway, I'm going to write detailed descriptions of everything I meet and see, so even if I die, the discoveries will be documented. Maybe I'll even send you to Sis someday. Probably not. But that might be cool. I can't wait to learn more about the world!_

The enthusiasm from the few words Momoka read made her smile. The person who wrote whatever had flown onto her face was very sweet, and curious. She was touched that something that was his only confidant had now been seen by her.

She hadn't met this boy, but they shared a secret now, and that warmed her heart.

"Fuyuki, huh? Must be a sailor... a sailor who can't swim... That's not a good idea, but he seems nice..." She wanted to learn more about him.

She extended her hand and breathed out onto it. She was the princess of her kingdom, and as such, had the most magical abilities. The First Kingdom was filled with magic.

"Wind... Bring me more of those precious pages. Let me learn about this Fuyuki," she ordered the wind, conjuring up a heavy breeze.

The wind went out into her direction to bring her more of the journal pages.

* * *

Momoka read a page of Fuyuki's journal every day. She learned more and more about the strange sailor, getting to know him, even beginning to develop feelings for someone she had never met yet knew a lot about.

She wanted to meet him. Perhaps he would like her. He sounded very nice.

She had read and stolen most of Fuyuki journal, except for one page, the page detailing his interest in meeting a mermaid. Momoka didn't know if it was safe to show herself to the sailors, she knew they were superstitious.

That didn't mean she couldn't see just Fuyuki, though, and at least see his face.

* * *

Momoka swam alone, finding the ship she had conjured the winds around. The sailors on it seemed to be doing some sort of ancient ritual to help the high winds.

Momoka jumped up to peer near the side into the ship.

_Which one's Fuyuki...? He'll be the one writing instead of dancing, I suppose... _Momoka made a face at all the old, ugly men on the ship. She hoped her newfound interest wasn't them.

Then she spotted him! A young boy around her age, leaning against the side of the ship and loyally writing in his journal what was happening.

He looked gorgeous to her.

_That's Fuyuki! That's the one whose words only I know! That's my Fuyuki! _she smiled. Her Fuyuki. She liked that.

Just one sight of him was enough to make her smitten. She knew he was nice, she knew all about his inner thoughts, and he was above and beyond what she had thought he would look like.

She wanted to meet him, to talk to him, for him to feel the same ache in his heart when looking at her, too. But she knew that was not to be.

She was a mermaid, and although he had expressed an interest in birds and mythical creatures, as a sailor he would believe that she had been sent to seduce and kill him. That was how sailors acted, superstitious. And even though Fuyuki liked learning more about superstition, she was still afraid.

What if he only saw her as a creature to document instead of a girl? She didn't want her chances with him to be ruined.

So she let herself just stay in the background, watching his ship and following him.

* * *

She followed his ship for a week, sometimes in person and sometimes with her crystal ball under the sea.

One of the days she gazed into her crystal ball, there was a particular nasty storm that she didn't want to get involved in.

"Fuyuki will be fine," she told herself as she looked through the crystal ball. But she was wrong. That was the day that the creatures from beyond the wall decided to attack.

Giant hawk-like monsters soared toward the ship that had dared to travel the seas, tearing apart the sails.

"Fuyuki!" Momoka yelled, knowing the winged creatures beyond the wall were dangerous. She didn't sit by and watch. Instead, she left her royal quarters, swimming as fast as she could.

She needed to get there before something bad happened.

* * *

She swam as fast as she could, but it was already too late. The ship was gone, destroyed by the creatures that the ship had sailed too close to. Only wreckage floated.

"FUYUKI!" she called. She saw sailors floating all around her, killed by the hawk's talons. But she did not see Fuyuki.

She finally spotted him, dipping involuntarily under the waves, unable to swim. Without thinking, she swam and pulled him back up to the air.

He couldn't see her; his eyes were closed as he gasped for air. He was slipping in and out of consciousness.

"I'll get you to land, Fuyuki," she told him.

Momoka swam to the nearest land at the edge of her kingdom, a beach. She dragged him with all her strength onto the beach, letting him finally breathe.

"Please don't be dead..." she begged. "I... I know we've never talked, but just watching you from afar... I've fallen in love with you," she confessed. She caressed his face and opened her mouth to sing him a soothing song of the sea, hoping he'd wake up.

He started coughing loudly during her song.

_He's alive! _Momoka was happy enough by that fact, and dragged herself back to the sea. She hid behind a rock, waiting for him to awaken so she could make sure he was alive.

Before he awoke, though, someone walked along the beach, one of the few lady lords of the beachy castle. It was a girl with long brown pigtails and a black headband.

_A sorceress... _Momoka thought to herself. Fuyuki opened his eyes and gazed up at the brown-haired girl who had discovered him.

"Y-you saved me!" Fuyuki coughed.

_NO I SAVED YOU! _Momoka seethed with jealousy as her hard work was taken credit for by the other girl.

"How fascinating. Perhaps daddy will be interested in you." The girl's headband poked Fuyuki, and he recovered from his near-death experience as his eyes sparkled.

"WOW! IS THAT HEADBAND ALIVE?" Fuyuki asked.

"He is my father," the girl told him. "I am Alisa. And you are?"

"Fuyuki! Wow! It's magic! And it's so cool!" Fuyuki took the girl's hand as he was led off the beach and into a nice castle.

Momoka was in a rage. _No, no, no! That girl will not steal Fuyuki from me! I saw him first! _She could do nothing about it, though.

She was just a mermaid. What could she do, walk up to him?

* * *

She went back to her crystal ball angrily, determined to break up this Alisa girl from Fuyuki at all costs. Fuyuki was so interested in her and thankful of her rescue of him.

"I need... to become human... I need to give up this stupid mermaid tail so that I can meet Fuyuki!" Momoka realized.

She had heard rumors of someone with a deep and powerful magic that could do anything. Her magic was not powerful enough to change her form, but the ruler of another kingdom had magic strong enough.

"Crystal ball... Please let me contact the ruler known as 'Kululu,' " she requested. The crystal ball showed a man with glasses and dark purple hair.

"Ku. Rare that someone contacts me through my own mirror," he told her. "Who might you be?"

"Princess Momoka of the First Kingdom," she greeted. "May I ask... are the rumors true that you can grant any wish?"

"If I can make something to do it, sure," Kululu shrugged. "I suppose it's a good idea to get in good with the princess of another kingdom. What is it you desire?"

"I want to turn human," she said.

"Lame. What _is_ it with everybody wanting to be human nowadays? It's not that fun," Kululu told her. "Lucky for you, I just happen to have the blueprints for a machine that can turn things human."

Momoka smiled, very happy by that news.

Kululu thought a moment, angry that he had been interrupted in his preparations for the ball. "But... it's gonna cost ya."

"I'll do whatever it takes. What can I give?" she asked.

"Hmmm... Your voice," he told her. In reality, he had no real reason to make something to take her voice, he just thought it would be funny. Had to keep up his reputation of being a jerk till the end, after all.

"My voice?" She touched her throat. "A-all right... And how will we make this exchange?"

"Go to the beach and I'll make a teleporter to come see you. Ku, ku, ku."

Momoka nodded and swum away. The only person who had seen her exchange and promise was her most loyal servent, Paul.

* * *

Momoka met with Kululu by the beach.

"Clickie!" He pointed a gun at her that took away her voice. "Now... This one will turn you human!" He shot the gun at her.

A light encircled her, the tail she once had separating into two legs.

"Don't have much time to deal with you, so go away! I have better things to deal with than make deals," he told her. Momoka nodded very happily and awkwardly ran off to the castle to meet with Fuyuki.

Kululu was just about to go back into the teleporter when Paul, Momoka's servant, splashed him with water to gain his attention.

"What if the princess wants to go back to life and how things were?" asked Paul. "She's making a rash decision just so she can be with a boy after all."

"Hmmm... I can make something to undo the deal if you wish... But I want something in return from you," Kululu told him.

"Anything," Paul told him.

"Shave off your mustache. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu just liked taking people's precious things. Paul, with great sadness, shaved off his mustache as Kululu made a new invention. He handed Paul a mechanical dagger.

"If the princess stabs that boy she wants to be with with this dagger, she'll gain her voice and tail back," Kululu explained to him. "Ku, ku, ku. Cool, huh? Just stab someone, and everything comes back," he laughed. "I really have to go now, I don't want to be late for my dance." With that, he stepped through a teleporter and left Paul alone, mustacheless.

* * *

Momoka happily knocked on Alisa's castle door, happy to finally be able to meet with her beloved Fuyuki.

"Hello." Fuyuki opened the door. Momoka smiled at him. "Oh, gosh! You must be really really cold! You're not wearing any pants! Don't worry, I'm not looking!"

Momoka tried to tell him it wasn't her fault, but words wouldn't come out of her mouth. She was mute.

"Come on inside. I'm sure Alisa would love to have you here. She's really nice and she's telling me all about magic. She even saved my life once!" He dragged Momoka inside to get pants and be warm by a fire.

Momoka frowned. Alisa still had the upper hand.

* * *

Fuyuki eventually realized that Momoka couldn't talk. He was kind to her, though, never treating her badly for it. He would tell her about his adventures on the sea, and finally told her about his interests.

"I really want to learn magic... I kind of wish I had seen a mythical mermaid on the sea! I mean, I really wanted to see if it's true that they're the people of the First Kingdom, but I guess I didn't. Mermaids are really cool," he told her, when he was taking a break from studying magic with Alisa.

Momoka's jaw hung open. _I SHOULD HAVE STAYED A STUPID MERMAID! HE WOULD HAVE LIKED ME BETTER THAT WAY!_

"Do you have a name? Can you read and write?" Fuyuki asked, interested by how little he knew of the strange girl. A mystery always intrigued him. He handed her a pen and paper. "My name is Fuyuki. What's yours?"

_Momoka, _she wrote.

"Momoka! That's a pretty name!" he smiled. Momoka felt herself melting into that smile. She had found a way to communicate with him.

_Tell me more about your adventures. I want to know what your life was like, _she requested.

"All right." He was happy to talk to her. "Want to hear some of my theoryies about magic and the world?"

Momoka nodded.

And Fuyuki talked to her all night.

* * *

She felt herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him every day. But each day, she also saw him growing closer and closer to Alisa. He was always interested in Alisa's powers and her relationship to her father, the dark mass of energy on her head.

She felt she and Fuyuki were developing a closeness based on interests, but his heart still lay with the strange and mysterious.

One day, she overheard Fuyuki and Alisa talking during a magic lesson he had requested.

"Fuyuki. Daddy and I like you. Would you happen to want to stay here forever? You and me, in companionship?" she asked.

"Uhhh..." Fuyuki didn't really know what to say about that. He didn't know what she was talking about, but he knew Alisa had saved his life. "I guess you did save my life... It would be only fair for me to grant your request."

Alisa smiled, and Momoka cried. She didn't know if Fuyuki loved Alisa, but she knew that Fuyuki had chosen her.

Crying and brokenhearted, she went to the beach by the water she felt safe in.

"Princess Momoka." Paul's head stuck out of the water. "I saw what happened... Your tale of romance did not end how you wanted. But there is a way to make this all go away, to make things all go back to the way they were..."

Momoka could not respond to her as he handed her a dagger. "I got this from Kululu for my mustache. If you stab Fuyuki, your voice and tail will come back, and you will return to the kingdom," he told her. "The kingdom needs you."

Momoka cried as Paul disappeared.

_I don't want that. I'd never stab Fuyuki to go back to my kingdom... Even if he doesn't like me, _she cried with the dagger in her hand.

"Momoka?" Fuyuki's voice called behind her. Momoka turned to him, her face wet with tears.

"I... I saw what just happened..." he admitted. "I heard you running off after I spoke to Alisa, and... You're the princess of the mermaid kingdom? Why didn't you write that to me?"

Momoka just cried some more.

"I-I'm sorry... It's just, I'm surprised. And I think it's super cool!" He nerded out for a moment. "Wait a minute... Are you the one who saved my life? I mean, it would have made sense. You were a mermaid in the water and could have saved me from drowning..."

Momoka nodded. Fuyuki smiled.

"Thank you!" he told her. Then he noticed the dagger in her hand. "D-do you... want to go back to your kingdom, Momoka?" he asked, remembering what Paul had said.

Momoka shrugged. She honestly didn't know. She just wanted to be by Fuyuki's side.

"I think it's right for you to return to your kingdom... But to do that, you'd have to stab me. Hmmm..." Fuyuki thought and walked closer to her. "You saved my life, so it's only fair that I save you from this situation." He smiled kindly at her.

_I'll never stab Fuyuki, _Momoka told herself. Fuyuki calmly took her hand and held it, the one with the dagger in it.

He then slowly led her hand to a spot in his gut.

"Stab me here," he ordered. Momoka shook her head. "No, you don't understand. Nobody said it had to be fatal. You just have to stab me once. And I trust you'll get help to heal me."

Momoka wouldn't do it. So Fuyuki helped her, forcing her hand to make the dagger stab him. He winced in pain as the dagger entered his flesh.

"F-Fuyuki! No! Stop, I love you!" Momoka's voice was the first thing that returned to her.

"Y-you... You love me?" Fuyuki smiled as he fell to the ground. "Momoka... You're so nice... I'm so glad I met you..."

Momoka caught him before he went face-first into the ocean waves. She knew Fuyuki was hurt, and there was only magic in one place strong enough to save him and heal him.

Her kingdom.

"I'll take you to my kingdom, Fuyuki... And you'll be safe... And we'll be together..." she told him. Fuyuki had saved her from her choice and decision, returning to her what was once hers. Now she had to save his life again.

Then and only then would she be free to be with Fuyuki.

Leaving Alisa without any warning, she took Fuyuki into the waves so she could get some healers to use magic to heal him.

"I love you, Fuyuki... Thank you," she told him, kissing him on the lips so he could breathe for at least an hour.

It was the mermaid's way, after all. It was the secret to getting into their kingdom.


	14. Ball

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**More Giroro! And More Gironatsu. Here ya go.**

* * *

It was the night of the ball.

Giroro had been preparing for it. He had worked up enough money to buy formal attire, and knew everything would go perfectly.

_All I have to do is somehow win her over. Hopefully she'll like this appearance. _Giroro was optimistic. Hopeful that things would go well.

So he entered the ball, gasping for a moment at all the Pekoponians happily dancing with music all around them.

His eyes searched out Natsumi, his pink haired warrior princess, who was sitting in an important chair at the front of the dance.

_Natsumi... Hopefully, I can say all the right things to win you over. Hopefully there is a chance for us, _Giroro wished.

He walked casually over to her, knowing that his glass slippers would give him the power to dance perfectly. At least, that was what he believed. He was unaware that they had no power, but confidence was a power all onits own.

Leaning down, he extended a hand and gave a toothy grin. "May I have this dance, my princess?"

* * *

Natsumi sat next to Angol Mois, chatting away about the ball.

"So... do you like that one?" Natsumi asked, being a loyal friend and trying to hook her friend up with a guy. That had been the goal of the dance in the first place.

"Hmmmm..." Mois began to open her third eye to judge the soul of the one Natsumi pointed at.

"WAIT! WAIT! Don't do that! We don't want anyone murdered at this party, remember?" she desperately reminded her.

"So... no opening my third eye, right?"

"Yeah, none of that yet. You have to judge if you like someone by your heart, not your sight," Natsumi told her. "Things will just feel right."

"All right! I'll judge with my heart!" she smiled.

A blond gentleman dressed in red approached the two princesses.

"May I have this dance, my princess?" the man asked, extending a hand and smiling. His smile was dazzling, almost familiar and nostalgic. Natsumi felt her heart beat instantly quicken.

She was confused, though, he was asking _her_ for a dance instead of Mois. The goal had never been to hook _Natsumi_ up, it had been to hook Mois up with someone.

Instead of jealousy from Mois, she smiled. "Go for it, Natsumi! Something could come from this!" she urged, instead of rooting for her to find love for herself.

"But..." Natsumi frowned. "I was supposed to stay by your side tonight."

"I'll be fine! I promise I won't kill anybody. You can go!" Mois told her. So Natsumi took the stranger's hand as he spun her into his arms.

* * *

"You're a lovely princess, you know," he complimented as he danced with her, trying to let the magic of confidence let him know all the steps.

"Th-thank you..." Natsumi didn't know what to say about the stranger. She was absorbed in his handsomeness, blushing as he looked at her.

"Your arms are quite strong, from what I see. I think anything you put your mind to, you could do. Reaching for your dreams is an achievable goal for you," Giroro complimented like the subtle expert he was. He hoped that Natsumi would warm up to him because of his knowledge about her.

"My dreams?" Natsumi repeated as he spun her.

"You can do anything that you set your mind to. A-at least, that's what I think from looking at you, my princess." Giroro twirled her again and gently gave her a kiss on her hand to symbolize his devotion.

Natsumi's mind spun and her face lit up. Nobody had ever treated her like this. She didn't know where this stranger had come from, but he seemed very kind and handsome.

"There is something I wish to do more than anything in the world... It means a lot to me that you'd say I'd be able to do it," she smiled.

"My princess, you would be able to do anything you wanted. You look like a true warrior, meaning you can take your dreams instead of chasing them," he told her.

Natsumi smiled. She liked those words. Warrior princess. "My name is Natsumi. You don't need to call me your princess."

"But I like calling you my princess. Should I stop?" Giroro asked, trying to look suave and loving. Natsumi smiled.

"You don't have to. It just makes it sound like I'm yours or something." She held onto his shoulders as they danced around the ballroom.

"I-I'd... I'd like you to be... One glance at you was all it took for me to be quite taken with you," he confessed. He didn't need to be dishonest. He had looks on his side. Plus, what he said was kind of true, anyway.

Natsumi blushed. The tall stranger that was dancing with her had instantly said all the right words to make her quite infatuated.

"Oh, and what should I call _you_ then, my stranger?" she asked.

"I'm your anything," he told her, twirling her again. Natsumi gazed into his eyes as he held again, the intimacy of their dance making them closer and closer just with every word that came out of his mouth and every movement that his feet made on the ballroom floor.

It really was like a fairy tale. The stranger had come out of nowhere and captured her heart with his words, his looks, and even his air of mystery.

"Who are you?" Natsumi asked as their faces neared each other.

"Just someone who wanted to come to this ball and met the most beautiful princess in the universe," he told her, giving her more compliments in lieu of information.

She gazed into his eyes. She couldn't get enough of his face.

She felt slightly bad for Angol Mois. The fairy tale romance that Mois had desired had instead magically fallen into Natsumi's lap.

And she was determined to keep it, and learn more about this mystery.

* * *

Kululu arrived late at the ball, thanks to having to deal with the mermaid princess. He still looked perfect, though.

_Ku. Just have to find a crowd of girls or something, and then Natsumi shouldn't see me. Actually, hopefully, she won't see anything except Giroro, and Giroro will be getting the information I desire. _Kululu walked into the ballroom, looking around.

Immediately he was flocked by various maidens who were interested in the new gentleman.

_Hmmm... If I remember correctly, this ball is supposed to be a friendship ball, correct? Natsumi allied herself with the princess of the Kingdom of Justice. Ku. If I could somehow get close to that princess, I might be able to dig up some information of Natsumi on my own. Since that one's a princess who hasn't seen me in my... jerkwady state, she'll probably fall for my charms, making her easier to manipulate. Hopefully then I'll have my fall-back plan for dealing with Natsumi, if my current plan won't work out._

_Ku... That would be pretty cruel. Turning Natsumi's friend against her. Ku ku ku. I love it. _Kululu walked past all the girls who were flocking him to the front of the ball, the throne where he knew the princess of the Kingdom of Justice sat.

_Princess of the Kingdom of Justice, I think it's time we become acquainted. Ku, ku, ku... I'll act like the perfect gentleman for just one dance, and then you'll become so infatuated with me that you'll do whatever I want._

Kululu smiled. A new playing piece on his board could be very useful.

* * *

Angol Mois giggled and smiled as she saw Natsumi and the stranger dance. She could tell Natsumi was only paying attention to one thing, and that was the strange man.

"She's falling in love! That's so sweet and beautiful." Mois wasn't paying attention to much else as she got out of her throne to navigate through couples to spy more on the cute couple.

That was when she ran into Kululu.

"Oops! I'm sorry!" she apologized.

"It's no problem," Kululu replied. "You must be the Princess." He bowed to her. "May I have this dance?"

Angol Mois, for once, did not smile. _Judge by the heart is what Natsumi told me, not by sight... But something feels off about this person... I mean, I know I always wanted to bump into someone in a ball and have them ask to dance with me and start a fairy tale romance, but... something about this guy just feels sinister. I just stepped on his foot really hard, and yet he's acting way too polite. _Maybe she was just reading into things wrong. "I'd love to dance."

Kululu smiled, trying not to chuckle. He took her hand and tried to put her in a position that would be best for them to look at each other, so she could gaze upon his beauty and be charmed like most other girls he met.

But as he held her in his arms and started to dance, he, too, felt the unease. _Her eyes... Her hair... They're way too pretty... She's too pretty... I never thought I'd meet someone who was actually pretty but this must mean she might be as evil as me. After all, people who are beautiful usually are evil and selfish because of their looks. I should know! _Kululu felt distrust and regret at once as he looked at her eyes, which were like golden orbs.

Her looks, her beauty, made him feel uneasy. He didn't know he would ever meet someone as beautiful as he was.

But he could not abandon his plan to woo her, to win her heart over and possibly dig up some information on Natsumi in the process. It was a good idea, making someone that Natsumi trusted hurt her. An idea he would not abandon.

"Y-you... You look quite lovely." Kululu pretended like his stutter didn't originally happen. "I knew the princess of the Kingdom of Justice would look like an angel."

"Oh? Are you not from around this kingdom?" Mois didn't listen to his false words and instead dug for the information underneath, that he didn't know what she looked like.

"I'm - " _Damn. She is smart. She learned more about me from that sentence than I meant for her to learn. I knew I shouldn't trust her. _"I'm a wealthy traveler; I'm only searching for one thing in this world, and it's true love," he lied.

_His story sounds sketchy. _Mois didn't trust the man in front of her. She couldn't see if he had an evil soul, but she did know that he was quite beautiful and _way_ too polite. Someone like that would only search out a murderess princess if he wanted something. That, and he wore glass on his face, a device that she had never seen but assumed enhanced his eyesight, something that someone who was intelligent would probably devise or figure out. To her knowledge, intelligent people were smart enough to be better liars, their mouths and ears learning about everything around them and being able to choose which information to share and which to not. People could lie, souls could not. And she felt like this stranger was lying.

"So, you've found everything else?" Mois asked.

"Well... true love is by far the most important thing. Don't you agree, princess?" Kululu asked. _She looks like a romantic. Maybe I can use that._

"Justice is important, too. Shouldn't you know that I value that? Or else I wouldn't rule the 'Kingdom of Justice,' now, would I?" she asked. _Maybe he's not that smart._

"Justice is very important. To hurt those who are wrong, equality, and whatnot. But what's also important is the pursuit of happiness, correct?" Kululu asked. _I've never found someone so untrustworthy. But she will not make me leave with her terrifying face. She will not!_

_I'll translate that as "furthering oneself is important," _she decided. Mois didn't trust this stranger in the least, but she also didn't want to admit that a part of her was having fun playing Madame Tightlips with this sketchy guy.

She also didn't want to admit that, although this guy seemed quite suspicious, he was also weirdly attractive.

Kululu danced with Mois a bit more. He tried to fake compliment her a few times, act as a gentleman, but she just suspiciously smiled at him and told him thanks, with no signs of falling for his attractive and gentlemanly nature. It was unnerving.

"So you're friends with Princess Natsumi, correct?" he asked, finally trying to get to the reason he was there.

Mois smiled. _Ah. So Natsumi is what he's after. _He had finally let up, unable to dance with her any longer. Almost as if he was afraid.

"I am very good friends with Natsumi," she told him.

Kululu twirled her around, bringing him closer. They had danced most of the night, and she had noticed that the strange traveler was now shaking somewhat when she looked at him.

What scared her more than he was how she liked this power.

"That's good. Friendship is always important." He kept up the pretenses. "She's very lucky to have such a lovely and... _interesting_ individual as her friend."

"Thank you! I'm lucky to have her as my friend, too. She's a nice girl."

"Oh? What's your favorite story between the two of you...?" Kululu tried to get information, hoping that she wouldn't give him nothing.

"Probably when she found true love and went off dancing with a stranger today." Mois gave him little information, hoping he'd be off of Natsumi's back.

Instead he smiled, not disappointed in the least bit by the information. _Good. It's working. That means I won't have to deal with this evil princess anymore. _Giroro would find Natsumi's strengths and weaknesses. Kululu wouldn't have to do anything.

The Princess in front of him might have believed that her looks were better than his and so she was immune to his charm or more evil than he, but he would prove her wrong. He didn't need her; he would still complete his goal.

* * *

Natsumi rested on the side of a fountain with Giroro.

"You really won't tell my your name? Anything about you?" she asked, holding his hand and smiling at him. She had become quite infatuated.

"Maybe I will, maybe I can't. My princess, my origins are unneeded; what matters is that I'm here now," he told her. "Now, why don't you answer me something about you?"

"Oh? Like what?" Natsumi asked, leaning against his shoulder.

"How is it that you're so lovely that every moment I look at you I just fall in love with you over and over again?" he asked, instead of asking anything to do with her strengths and weaknesses.

"You're cute," Natsumi giggled, loving how much he loved her and how he was pretty much her dream guy. She caressed his cheeks and gazed into his eyes again. "You've... You've gotten my heart too." She embraced him.

Giroro blushed and held her closely, making sure the water from the fountain wouldn't spray all over her.

* * *

Kululu noticed Giroro and Natsumi sitting outside by the fountain. Calmly, he danced Mois close enough to the area so he could hear what they were talking about.

He heard everything Giroro said and how he dropped the ball in finding information, instead using every one of Natsumi's questions as an excuse to hit on her.

_Wait... He knew her... He was in love with her! He is too much of an idiot to even do what I hired him for in the first place! _Kululu realized that he had been the fool for choosing Giroro for the task at hand.

Watching Giroro and Natsumi embrace, he felt anger. _So he's having a good time, but _I_ still have to pretend to be a gentleman? Ku, ku, ku. This evening will not end happily for him if he refuses to do what was in our deal._

It was time to throw away being a gentleman. It was time to be a jerk.

"My darling, I must go. There's something I have to attend to," Kululu told Mois. He gave her a fake pet name in the hope of her growing some affection for him. It was very unlikely that she could be useful to him, but it was still worth a shot.

He did not kiss her hand. He didn't want to. Instead, he bowed, then quickly left.

_Well... I met someone really sketchy instead of a romantic prince charming, so I guess the romantic evening was unsuccessful? _thought Mois._ But I'm sure I can find true love somewhere else! And at least Natsumi found someone nice. I'm so very happy for her! I'm really happy! _She focused on being happy for her friend instead of dwelling on her own failure to find romance.

She was unaware Kululu was leaving to ruin Natsumi's evening.

* * *

Kululu took out his gun that would change Giroro back to a Keronian. Standing away from the party but near enough to shoot him, he clicked the gun as soon as the clock struck midnight.

_Ku, ku, ku. I told him he had three days. Technically, I didn't specify if it was three complete days or the beginning of the third day. Guess it'll be the beginning of the third._

He couldn't wait to see Giroro's reputation be ruined.

* * *

Natsumi leaned forward into her mysterious stranger's arms and leaned forward, toward his lips.

_S-she's... She's going to kiss me! Natsumi's going to kiss me! _Giroro's heart soared.

The clock struck midnight.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful zap, and his hands started growing smaller. And more red.

"AUGH!" He leaped away from Natsumi.

"Wh-what's wrong?" Natsumi asked. Giroro tried to cover his hands.

"N-nothing..." _I'm turning back... Did he mean that it would work until the third day? Oh, no..._ "I-I'm sorry... I have to go..." He turned away from her before any more disaster befell him.

"Wait!" Natsumi tried to follow him, running through the crowd of people and couples. "Where are you going? Come back!"

Mois looked puzzled as she watched Natsumi run past. It dawned on her that Natsumi's new lover was running away.

She wasn't going to let that happen.

"Hey!" She addressed the servants that her adviser had gotten just for this occasion. "Don't let that man leave!" She pointed to Giroro.

The servants nodded and quickly ran to the stairs with a sticky glue-like substance they had grabbed. They coated the stairs in glue.

"AUGH!" Giroro was on the last step when his shoe was caught on the glue. "I need to go!" He ditched the beautiful glass slipper because his foot was growing smaller, anyway.

He then ran off into the distance.

Natsumi jumped over the steps and looked around for the man she had fallen in love with, but he was gone. He had disappeared.

She picked up his glass shoe, the only thing she had left of his.

"I-I'm... I'm really sorry, Natsumi..." Mois was tearing up for Natsumi more than Natsumi was.

"It's all right. We'll find him. The man who fits this shoe in the kingdom will be him," she told her friend.

"Y-yeah... You're right," said Mois.

* * *

Kululu just laughed from the distance. He had seen Giroro desperately pick up his clothes and hide in the bushes after he had fled. That guy was so embarrassed.

Natsumi was alone and hopeless, and the best part was, nobody would fit the shoe, since the human man he had made had only been temporary.

Best of all, the evil princess was crying.

"Ku, ku, ku... Today was a good day." He dropped his gun, no longer needing it, and left to plan another way to destroy Natsumi.

* * *

Giroro felt bad for how sad Natsumi looked.

"Damn magical being, giving me the wrong time," he growled. He kicked at the dirt on the ground and accidentally kicked the gun. "Huh? Wait... This is what he used on me..."

He picked it up and smiled. There was still hope.

Even though it had only a little juice left, it could still be minorly useful.


	15. Engagement

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Yep, here's another chapter. Primarily with Giroro.**

* * *

Natsumi searched all over the kingdom for the man who could fit the glass shoe, but no one could.

It was as if he never existed.

"We'll find him. I'm sure we will! And then you'll be reunited with your loved one!" Mois reassured her.

Natsumi just frowned. "I... I don't think I will... I mean, I don't even know why he left so suddenly..."

"Maybe he was under a magic spell? Maybe something big came up! He probably didn't want to leave you!" Mois gave the best reason she could for him leaving - magic.

Natsumi tried to perk up for her friend who was trying so hard to cheer her up. "So... what about you? meet anyone nice?"

"Nope!" Mois honestly responded.

Natsumi frowned. "Then... Then the ball was a failure... We didn't find your true love."

"It wasn't a failure. Because you found somebody special to you," Mois giggled.

Natsumi didn't know if that was true. Her special someone had disappeared mysteriously.

* * *

Giroro climbed a tree and peered into the castle, watching Natsumi walk around and fret about how she had lost her mystery man.

There wasn't enough magical juice in the contraption he had found to turn him human forever, so starting a relationship was out of the question.

However, he did want to sooth her, make her feel loved, stick by her side.

_I'm not going back to that forest, _he decided in a split second decision. _I'll stick by Natsumi, but not as Giroro... Giroro and she don't have a chance. Instead, I'll visit her during the nigh, as my human counterpart, only staying there for moments and watching from afar during daylight to make sure she isn't hurt._

Giroro decided that was the best bet. To love her from afar, except during a small portion of the night.

* * *

It was the first night, and when Giroro was confident Natsumi was very asleep, he changed into his attire and human body and sneaked into her room.

No guards were present in the Kingdom of Justice's castle, so it was easy to sneak in.

"My princess, it is I." Giroro awoke Natsumi with a bow. Natsumi groggily woke up.

"Huh? I-it's you..." she realized. Giroro smiled.

"Yes, it is I." He took her hand, confident that she was sleepy enough to think she was dreaming. "Now would you like to dance?"

Natsumi nodded sleepily and let the strange man dance with her.

It was only a half an hour together, but it was enough for Natsumi to be blissful. And then Giroro left.

* * *

"I saw him, Mois! I saw him!" Natsumi told her friend.

Mois gasped. "The glass-shoe-wearing man?"

"Yes! He was in my dreams! And we danced together! Wait... No... That was just a dream..." Natsumi's happiness died down.

"It's nice having dreams. I know _I_ really love sleeping. Dreams are the greatest!" Mois told her. "But... we need to focus on reality. It's not like we can sleep forever, right?"

"Y-yeah... I guess you're right..." Natsumi looked a little sad.

She wanted her mysterious lover to come back to her.

* * *

The night after and the night after that, her mysterious stranger returned to her, each time dancing with her for a half an hour in her dreams.

She tried to talk to him, to ask him anything, but he just whispered sweet nothings into her ears.

She was growing tired of it. Mois was right. She had to wake up, go back to reality. Forget the glass-slipper-wearing man.

He wasn't coming back, and she had to face that. He would never be found.

So on the fifth night when he came to her Natsumi refused to dance.

"I can't," she told him.

He looked shocked. "Wh-why not?"

"Because I have to forget about you. This has to end," she told him. "You're just a dream. My head can't be in the clouds. I have reality to focus on. There's still something I have to do." And with that prompt rejection, she went back to sleep.

Giroro was shocked and saddened by her rejection. But he knew she was probably just sad that, to her, this was only a dream.

He decided to give her space.

* * *

The next day, the adviser known as narrator appeared before Mois again.

"Have you found the man that fits the glass shoe?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I have not, but there's something else that we have to attend to, something that the ball didn't deal with..." the narrator told her.

"Oh, yeah, the suitor problem. I didn't find anyone that nice at the ball, I'm afraid. There was no instant love connection!" she told him.

"About that..." the narrator trailed off. "After the failure of the ball, I found someone decent, someone very talented. He's good with the people and has quite a lot of money to share with this kingdom. There were no downsides, so since we're looking for a potential king anyway, I..."

"You sold Mois off?" Natsumi finished. "For money for the kingdom? Are you stupid? This place is literally covered in crystals!"

"I did not sell our princess off. I expected that there would be a love match between them when she met him, and I still have that hope. The princess asked me to find her romance, and I tried my hardest to do that... When I found someone who didn't want uncertainty, I promised him marriage. Do not worry, he is the perfect guy - "

"You... You did what...?" Mois's lip quivered. "But I wanted to find love on my own! I wanted true love, not an arranged marriage!"

"An arranged marriage could still be true love, princess," the narrator told her. "And the kingdom has gone far too long without a king. The facts are there that you need to be married, that we can't have an heirless kingdom. You're at the right age, and rumors have been flying about why you haven't been married yet."

"It hasn't been that long..." Mois's lip still quivered.

"Princess... You've been at the marriageable age for five hundred years..." the narrator reminded her. "There are some _deep_ rumors about why you aren't married yet."

"I've been looking for love! I wanted true love!" she sobbed.

"I found you true love. He's very nice. I brought him here. May I let him come in?" the narrator asked.

"F-fine... But I don't want to marry him!" Mois pouted.

Natsumi hoped for Mois's sake that she changed her mind based on first impressions. The suitor had been promised to her, after all.

The crystal doors opened and a white-haired boy entered the palace. "I'm Saburo," he greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

He did indeed look kind and handsome. If Natsumi had met him before ever meeting her strange lover, she could honestly say she would be attracted to him.

She hoped he passed Mois's test too.

"Nope. I can't see myself falling in love with this guy." Mois was harsh and blunt with her rejection.

"Princess, please... Try harder..." The narrator tried to soothe her mind. "It's too late, the arrangements have already been made. He will be marrying a princess and helping the kingdom decently. Perhaps the people may even look up to you again."

"He might be great for the kingdom, but I won't love him, and that's what's important. There is no spark between us, no anything. I don't want to do this... I'm not ready to get married." At first, Mois's poutiness had just been normal pouting, but then started crying.

She honestly didn't want to marry the guy in front of her. She didn't like him.

Natsumi went up to her friend and hugged her. "There, there..."

Saburo couldn't help but frown a bit when Mois started crying, clearly not too taken with her sad little tantrum.

Natsumi didn't want her friend to have to go through with this. And then she got an idea.

"You've been promised to a princess, right?" Natsumi asked Saburo.

"Yeah. And I live by the rules," Saburo told her.

"Would it be all right if you switched who were you betrothed to? I mean, would everything be still fine if you married me instead of her?"

"Huh?" Mois wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"I'm not going to let you marry a man that you don't want. I'm going to save you from this mistake. I'll do it instead," Natsumi volunteered.

"But what about your love from the ball?" Mois asked. "I thought you wanted to be with him?"

"He's... not coming back," Natsumi told her. "I have to accept that. Move on and face reality. Getting married might be the best way to do that."

"But your whole life... You'd be giving it up just to get me out of a tight situation," Mois told her.

"I'm willing to do that. You're my friend," Natsumi smiled. Mois hugged her.

"I'd be fine with that deal. I think it would be nice to marry you," Saburo smiled.

Natsumi let Mois go to walk up to him. "Then so it shall be."

The two shook hands.

_Maybe I will find love with him. Maybe I'll forget about the stranger. And at least... At least I saved Mois from doing something she didn't want to do. _Natsumi hoped Saburo and she could find love between them.

* * *

The news traveled quickly about Princess Natsumi becoming engaged. And none was more devastated than Giroro.

"Wh-what...? Wait... S-so... She actually did give me up..." Giroro had been giving her space so she'd accept him again. His gun was almost out of juice, anyway.

It looked like they really weren't meant to be.

Giroro wept, heartbroken that Natsumi had found someone else.

"Then... I should leave if she doesn't want me here..." Before Natsumi, he had a goal, and that had been to impress soldiers in the war and receive knighthood.

He now had the chance to do that, to leave everything behind, including Natsumi.

"Good-bye... We were doomed from the start, my love..." He waved good-bye to the Kingdom of Justice to head off to the front lines of the war.

That was where he belonged. Not the ballroom floor.

Hopefully, Natsumi would be happy with the man she had chosen. That was all that mattered to him.


	16. Thorns

**This chapter is really short. Sorry bout that.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Fuyuki woke up surrounded by mermaids, a magical glow all around him. He was being healed.

"Huh?" He waved a hand in front of him, knowing he was underwater. "H-how can I breathe?"

Momoka was in front of him, smiling now that he was finally feeling better. "You can breathe because I kissed you. Speaking of which..." She moved forward and kissed him again on the lips.

Fuyuki blushed, but felt oxygen pour into him.

"A mermaid's kiss has magical elements. It can grant someone an hour of oxygen underwater. That is how I brought you to my kingdom," she explained. "Welcome to the First Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Sea."

"Oh my god, I can't believe I'm here!" Fuyuki's eyes sparkled, brushing off the kissing bit. "This is so cool!"

"Now, Fuyuki... I need you to make a choice. Your rightful place is on land, but because I love you, you can stay here if you wish. But every hour we'll have to kiss. Is that all right with you?" Momoka asked.

"It is! This is just the coolest! I want to stay here!" Fuyuki chose easily.

She was puzzled. "Wouldn't you like to continue your magic lessons with Alisa, though?"

"Can't _you_ teach me magic? Mermaids have a lot of magic, right?" Fuyuki asked.

Momoka blushed. "I'd love to teach you." She took his hand, happy that Fuyuki was finally hers.

It was his turn to learn about her, and hopefully fall in love just as much.

* * *

Kululu climbed back into Koyuki's tower for more advice.

"How did your dance go?" Koyuki asked politely.

"Horrible. I met someone who may be even more evil than I," Kululu admitted. "Also, my plan failed. So I came here for advice."

"You want advice from me for what to do to enact your revenge?" Koyuki knew Kululu was after revenge on the princess of the Third Kingdom. She heard that she had gotten away.

"She's befriended my newest annoyance," Kululu told her, "the princess of the Kingdom of Justice. I want to break their friendship apart, but that gold-eyed twit is just too loyal."

"Did you try seducing her? I thought you were really popular with the ladies," Koyuki pointed out.

"Tried that. She wasn't biting the bait."

"Why don't you invade her kingdom? Tell her you'll give her kingdom and people back if she gives you a princess. She'll be forced to give up her friend so that she can continue ruling, and you'll be able to sacrifice your enemy and blame it on the Princess of Justice because it was her choice," Koyuki told him. "You could do one of those old sacrificial things, and burn her or something." She didn't much like giving Kululu morbid advice, but she knew it was what kept her fed and him liking her.

"Ku. Good idea. And since the Princess of Justice is actually quite evil, she'll sacrifice her friend easily. It'll be great seeing the betrayal in Natsumi's face," Kululu laughed again. "I'll be going to plan my invasion, then."

He left, laughing wickedly.

Koyuki didn't know what she had done.

* * *

Dororo couldn't think during the day as he ran his shoe shop. The mystery of his green-haired partner still haunted him.

He wanted to find her, to learn about her. To free her from whatever imprisoned her during the day.

He wanted to help everybody, including her.

He didn't want to leave his shop, though, although he didn't deserve it.

Suddenly, he realized he really _didn't_ deserve it; the elves did. He could go hunting for where his partner was and just give the shop to the elves.

"Elves..." He addressed them kindly, giving out some food for them.

"What is it you need?" the elves asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to help you and do something for you. There is someone who I have found I care for very deeply in my missions during the night, someone who I must find. But I do not want to leave the shop. I realized, though, that it isn't my shop anymore. I do barely anything for it. So I want to give my family business to you, the elves. You deserve it far greater than I. You deserve to use the money you made."

The elves were shocked by Dororo's speech. They had never been given a true home.

"Th-thank you!" they told him, all bowing.

"I must leave now, to go on my journey. To find the green-haired girl and who she is," he told them.

With that, he left the elves alone to run his shop.

* * *

He traveled for a good long time, searching throughout the land, honing his skills while he searched.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Eventually, he did come upon something on a hill. It was a large tower, very high. He stopped, because it looked unusual. Then, saw someone he couldn't ever _not_ recognize - the ruler of his kingdom himself approaching it.

"Koyuki... Koyuki, let down your hair!" the ruler yelled bothersomely. Long green hair came flying out the window.

The same color as his partner's.

Dororo watched as the ruler climbed up into the tower, unaware he did this trick only so Koyuki could be caused pain.

Dororo waited until he left to try to sneak in himself and see if that was the person he was looking for.

First he tried impersonating his ruler, by calling the same code words. "Koyuki, Koyuki, let down your hair!" he requested.

Yet again, hair came down, and this time Dororo climbed up it.

Just as he suspected, he saw Koyuki, his green-haired partner, sitting in the tower.

"H-how did you get here? And why did you climb up my hair?" Koyuki asked.

"Isn't that the way you get into this tower?" Dororo asked.

"No! Kululu just does it so that I'm in pain!" Koyuki admitted. "But you shouldn't be here..."

"I wanted to know more about you, to learn about you, to figure out why you only appear during the night. Please, tell me, Snow," he told her. "I want to know, you, you are my friend."

Koyuki sighed. "Well... You've already found me, but you have to leave before tomorrow, before he sees you... My name is Koyuki. I used to be the princess of this kingdom. However, Kululu conquered it, killed my parents, and imprisoned me. I'm supposed to live in this tower, but he doesn't know I can get out. I've been trying my best to help my people, even though I am a prisoner," she spoke.

Dororo held her hand, squeezing it.

"You are a prisoner no longer. We should leave, together. There's no point in you staying here. It's wrong," he told her.

"B-but... He'll find me and take me back..." Koyuki was frightened.

"No. No, he won't. I promise I will help you and protect you... After all, I... I love you. You're my friend and partner," he said with a smile. "Please, leave this place with me."

"A-all right..." Koyuki agreed. She would escape with him.

All of a sudden, a door opened behind them. Koyuki hadn't even known there was a door there.

"Ku, ku, ku. So this is what you do in your spare time. I knew I heard someone say Koyuki's name, so I came back." Kululu had discovered their plan.

"I won't let you hurt Lady Koyuki!" Dororo put his arms in front of Koyuki as if to protect her.

"I'm not going to hurt _her_, dimwit. She would have stayed here if it wasn't for you," Kululu told him. "I'm not letting anyone disobey me." He got closer and closer to Dororo, who backed away, wondering when was the best time to strike.

Kululu was unarmed, but he outstretched a hand and pushed Dororo.

Dororo fell out the window.

"DORORO!" Koyuki yelled as he fell.

"Well, he's dead now. No more problems of that pest. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.

Koyuki peered out the window and saw Dororo moving. He had landed in a thorn bush. He was alive.

She was so relieved. Then she glared at Kululu. "I'm helping you no longer," she hissed.

"You don't have a choice," he told her.

"Yes! Yes I do! If you want a prisoner, get a new one! Because I'm yours no longer." Koyuki barged past Kululu and gracefully jumped out of the tower, landing on the ground, as she had trained.

Kululu was shocked she could even get out.

"Your curse... that turned you into a human was really that wizard's way of saying nobody would ever love you, you know. And it's true, because you are vile!" Koyuki grabbed Dororo and ran off.

Kululu watched, rather hurt by the betrayal, but also at the same time not caring. She had outlived her usefulness, anyway.

* * *

"Dororo... Dororo... Are you okay?" Koyuki asked, looking at her friend.

"I... I survived... But... the thorn bush scratched at my eyes. I can't see anything. I'm sorry, I'm not a very good protector, am I?" Dororo was bleeding a lot, especially from his eyes.

He was blind.

Koyuki hugged him. "We're going to get away from him, before he can hurt us any more. And I can only think of one place he'll never have control of."

"Where?" Dororo asked.

"The front lines of the war," she told him. "Strangely enough, it's the safest place for us."

"Then that is where we will go." Dororo took Koyuki's hand and let her lead him to his new life, in danger but not as much as living in their own kingdom.


	17. Imprisonment

**Obligatory Kurumois chapter. You knew this was coming. It's me writing this. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Kululu had gathered his army. He had made the preparations.

The Kingdom of So-called Justice would stand no chance against him.

* * *

It was like it had been that morning again, that morning when Natsumi's kingdom had been attacked. She was reading one of Angol Mois's cheesy romance books, sitting back in a chair, when the door flew open.

"Ku, ku, ku. I didn't think there would be so little guards. How pathetic. Aki's kingdom was way harder to conquer." Natsumi saw her greatest nightmare right in front of her, the dictator that had taken over her mother's kingdom.

And now he had come to Mois's.

Soldiers streamed into the castle, taking a protective stance around him. Natsumi bolted out of her chair and stood, ready to fight, even if she was going to die tyring.

Instantly recognizing the Kululu, Mois pointed a finger at him. "I knew you were suspicious!"

"Huh?" said Natsumi.

"This wouldn't have happened if I could have looked into his soul at the ball. Then he would have been dead!" Mois told her friend.

"Wait... You met him at the ball?" said Natsumi. "And I have nothing to do with this invasion!"

_Ku. Good they're bickering, and I haven't even done anything yet. _Kululu was pleased. "Ku, ku, ku..." he chuckled. "You do know what happens after someone invades a kingdom, right? They do horrible things to the people, enact their rule, blah, blah, blah, bad things happen. You don't want that to happen, right, princess?" he asked Mois.

Mois bit her lip, wondering what to do. She was virtually defenseless against all of Kululu's guards.

"This... This is the man who invaded my kingdom and killed my parents... Be careful, Mois, he's a murderer." Natsumi gripped the girl's hand. But she knew it was most likely that Kululu would kill them both.

There was no chance to run this time.

"If you can do all that and you have everything you want, why am I not dead yet? There must be something more you desire," Mois figured out.

_Ku. Smart. Now she's going to try to scheme her way out of the situation. But I'll give her her choice first. She'll feel like it's the best option out, so she'll instantly take it. _Kululu both admired and feared Mois's intelligence. What he feared most of all, though, was her face. It was the symbol of her evil. Something so pure that she had to have a dark heart.

"That's right, I need something. A princess," he said. "Ku, ku, ku."

"Wait... You came all this way and invaded my kingdom to hit on me?" Mois realized with a frown.

"Whoa! Hold up! That is _not_ what's going on!" Kululu corrected her. "I need a sacrificial princess. You've probably heard the rumors of my evil, my cruelty, how I enjoy pain. And, well, there's this stupid ritual back in my kingdom of sacrificing maidens every year or something." Kululu made up a lie that neither princess would see through. "And I decided to burn one of my enemies this year instead of someone from my people. But it's not really a sacrifice unless you've sacrificed something, so now I'll offer you a deal... Ku, ku, ku." He held up his index finger. "Give me a princess to sacrifice, and I'll leave your kingdom alone for a year, giving you time to build up an army." He held up two fingers. "Or, if you don't feel like sacrificing any princesses, I'll just kill you both. Ku, ku, ku."

Natsumi's blood ran cold. She knew what he wanted. He wanted to finish the job he had done to her mom and kill her, too. He wanted to burn her alive.

And she knew Mois couldn't sacrifice her kingdom for their friendship. Mois would be forced to sacrifice Natsumi, who served no purpose to the kingdom. After all, the kingdom would be taken if Mois died. She had no heirs.

"Okay," Mois agreed after thinking about it for a moment. "I agree to your terms."

"Ku, ku, ku. Great, then I'll take Natsumi and get out of your hair," he said. Natsumi knew what was happening, but the betrayal from Mois still hurt.

"You aren't taking Natsumi anywhere," Mois told him. "You needed a princess, but you didn't specify which one of us you wanted." She stood firm. "I will be the sacrifice. Not her."

"Wh-what...? But, that would be entirely stupid. Wh-who's going to rule your kingdom? That doesn't make any sense..." Kululu reasoned. "You're evil." He was shocked that Mois would willingly sacrifice herself for Natsumi.

"Mois! This is stupid! He's right. It would be best to sacrifice me... I'm okay with it; I'll go..." Natsumi insisted, not wanting her friend to sacrifice herself for her.

"You already saved me from an arranged marriage. I'll just do the same with your life." Mois smiled to her. "It's my turn to save you, friend." She hugged Natsumi. "And what's this about me being evil? Are those the rumors about me lately?" She smiled at Kululu, no fear in her face for what he was doing.

"Y-you're definitely evil..." _Beautiful people are evil. She has to be evil, right? She can't be something gorgeous and pure. That wouldn't make any sense... That's not how it works. Yet... she's willingly sacrificing herself for her friend._

"What's your name?" Mois asked, still smiling.

Kululu was caught off-guard yet again. "K-Kululu... I'm Kululu... But you can call me 'your highness.' " He tried to keep calm, and not let his fear show. Her eyes were looking straight at him; it didn't even look like she was blaming him.

"Kululu. Do I have your word that my kingdom will be safe for a year?" she asked.

"K-ku... Yeah," He agreed. He was confused. She really intended to die.

"Then I will gladly be your sacrifice. Natsumi will rule in my steed. Natsumi, please, don't attack him out of revenge. He's just best trying to protect his people with this ritualistic sacrifice and - "

"Actually, ku, I completely lied about that. I don't do ritualistic sacrifices, they're pointless," Kululu admitted, hoping to dampen her good mood.

"Oh... Umm... But I'm still going to die? What's the point of that?" she asked.

"No point. I just want to have fun. Say good-bye to your friend. Lied about that, too, I'm not letting you say good-bye." Grabbing Mois's, arm he tried to keep his calm composure.

He could still hurt Natsumi by killing her good friend.

He still had a stake set out in the town for her to burn. Just because she was pure and innocent and gorgeous didn't mean he'd lose everything and let her live.

_You're mine. You gave your life to me. And I will kill you. _Kululu dragged Mois outside of her castle to the town square. He had the stake set up.

"So this is where I'm going to die..." Mois frowned. "I didn't expect this to happen. I mean, I expected my life to go a bit differently, but I'm glad my kingdom will be safe." She continued chit-chatting.

Kululu tied her to the stake, trying not to look at her eyes. There was no fear, just regret, almost sadness.

"B-bring the fire..." he ordered. "Are you really ready for this? You can still sacrifice Natsumi to save your kingdom."

"I would only kill someone who deserves it, and Natsumi does not deserve it," Mois told him. She was shivering a little bit by now. "Kululu... Um... Do you think it's going to hurt? This... This isn't going to be a quick death, it'll be a bit long..." Angol Mois seemed a bit frightened.

Her quivering was a little too much. Kululu sighed. _She's completely innocent. Beautiful, innocent, and pure. She's terrifying, but she didn't do anything wrong to me besides messing up my plans._

"You gave me your life, remember? I live by the rules."

"Heh. That reminds me a bit of what someone else said." Mois giggled in the face of her death. Kululu stood at the bottom of her pyre with the torch. The next moment was drawn out as he thought.

He sighed. "Put the fire back. I'm not using it." He handed the fire to somebody else. Then he walked back up to her stake and untied her.

"Wh-what...?" Mois was surprised. She had at first judged Kululu to be completely evil, yet now he was doing a kind act.

"I'm not killing you. It would be pointless, boring. But your life is mine. So you will be mine, forever. Do you hear me? In return for your life, you will come back to my castle with me as a servant instead of the princess that you once were. In return, I will never ever harm your people." He didn't even know what he was saying. All he knew was that she had somehow made him pity her, and find some kindness in him that even he didn't think was possible.

_She might be turning me pure. Oh, geez, that's the true terror. No wonder I didn't trust her. That is the true evil! _Kululu thought to himself.

Mois smiled brightly, as if she had already forgiven almost dying.

"All right. I accept the terms of the agreement." And with that, their contract was made.

Kululu took his soldiers and left the kingdom and Natsumi all alone to cry, believing her friend had been taken off for torture.

She knew Kululu was up to something. He was going to hurt her friend so much.

* * *

For once, he was up to nothing.

_I can still get something out of this deal. _He still wasn't in the habit of letting anyone in his castle, instead preferring solitude. _I lost Koyuki, so maybe I can use her as an adviser._

He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, thinking to himself how to make the best out of his weakness. Mois, too, was trying to make the best of her arrangement.

"What would you like me to do?" she asked. "I... I don't really know how to serve anyone..."

"Get me some tea. You'll serve me food and drink and do everything I order, and under no circumstances will you run away or betray me," Kululu ordered. _She doesn't seem like the type to run away, but neither did Koyuki. I have to watch out for her._

"I won't run away," she told him. "I'm indebted to you for not killing me. We made a deal. You could say, I'll keep my word?"

Kululu twitched at her innocence.

"Th-that, and I'm... I'm intrigued by you," she admitted.

_Ah... Yes, my looks are finally kicking in. I should have predicted this. Most women fall for my charms. If they don't, it's because they grew up knowing me, like Koyuki, or they saw me murdering someone, like Natsumi, _Kululu thought. He was sickened at how shallow she really had turned out to be, but he had expected it, anyway.

"I mean... When I danced with you, I thought there was something scheming underneath your gentlemanly exterior, and I was right. If I judged you now and looked into your soul, you'd probably be filled with cold and heartless evil, yet..." She trailed off.

"Yet?" Kululu didn't know what she was talking about. Probably that she was attracted to him, even though he was evil.

"Yet, you couldn't kill me. You saw that I was frightened, and you decided to grant me kindness. Does this mean you weren't as evil as I first thought? Does this mean people with evil souls should be granted a second chance at life? Was I wrong to decide that I could choose other people's fates?" She got philosophical instead of talking about Kululu's looks.

"Huh...?" He was confused. "Wait... What are you talking about?"

"Oh, yeah, you haven't heard much about me, have you?" said Mois. "I'm not a Keronian or a Pekoponian. I'm an Angolian. Someone with a longer lifespan than them all."

"So I bet the Pekoponians and Keronians both hate you. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu was somewhat interested about this new species.

"Well, it's only me. And I have a power." She tapped her forehead and opened her third eye. Kululu froze up for a second as she looked at him. "Just as I suspected, you have an evil soul," she told him.

"What did you just do?"

"I can see a person's soul with my third eye, judge their sins, see what their punishment deserves. In my kingdom, anyone with an evil soul is killed by me. That's why we have such a low crime rate and are very peaceful. But was I right to decide who lived and who died?" she wondered.

Kululu was intrigued by what she spoke of. The innocent girl he knew had apparently killed many. Yet, she was confused by him and his actions. They were both confused by each other, it seemed.

"Oh yeah! I'm going to get you tea!" She found a teapot and poured him some, spilling a tiny bit. "Sorry!" She seemed back to a rather perky nature.

"Hey. Did you already forget that I imprisoned you? Why is it that you're so perky?" he asked.

"I forgave you for what you were doing as soon as you kept your word and didn't forcefully try to hurt Natsumi. I know you were aiming at her. And when you stood with the torch in your hand, I saw myself killing so many others. So... I knew it would be wrong to hate you for killing me. It was only karma," she explained to him.

Kululu was already afraid of her personality. Too forgiving, too nice. It all scared him.

* * *

A month passed, just the two of them in his castle, with Kululu trying to plan Natsumi's demise. Mois hadn't tried to escape once. She seemed resigned to her fate, but trying to make the best of it. She was honestly intrigued by him, learning as much as she could about him so she could re-evaluate what it meant to be an evil soul.

In turne, he learned a lot about her. She had lived for two thousand years, yet hadn't had a single friend till Natsumi showed up. She enjoyed fairy tales and romance, something that he didn't approve of. He hoped she didn't see this situation as a fairy tale. She believed firmly in justice and didn't want anybody to hurt anybody in front of her. She had a very big "protect the weak" attitude.

And she was innocent and pure as hell. ...So to speak.

"Are you making something?" Mois asked. She was most calm and happy whenever she saw Kululu inventing things. She liked it. She hadn't seen anybody do such a thing before.

"Something scientific, something you won't understand." He hated her watching him. It made him unnerved because he couldn't pay attention when she watched him. His heart started constricting on itself, and his face would heat up.

"Scientific?"

"If you ask if that's like magic, I'm going to vomit all over you," Kululu threatened. "I don't believe in magic."

"Why wouldn't you believe in magic?" Mois asked, putting her hands under her chin and floating above him.

"You probably believe in it because of all those stupid fairy tales you like," he told her.

"No. I believe because I'm floating right over you right now. I have a so-called 'magical third eye' and I came from a place I myself don't know about. From what I know, one of those magical creatures from beyond the wall stole me from over in that land and dropped me off in here." Mois shrugged. "I don't know much about what I am. But I believe in magic."

Kululu opened his mouth to retort something, but she was sort of right. There was no legitimate reason for her being able to fly.

"You're a different species. That's not magic, it's a species thing," he told her.

"Well then, even if I'm not magic, there's magic all over the world, like the magic of love!" She grinned, delighting in being able to bring the conversation to one of her favorite subjects. Knowing now that Kululu was disinterested in true love made her able to talk honestly about her romantic fascination.

"Oh god, not this again." Kululu rubbed his head. The magic of love didn't exist, and it was just stupid.

Mois talked to him anyway. Although he tried to ignore her, he secretly enjoyed how close she had come to trust him. Perhaps it was because they were the only ones there and he was the only one she'd ever be able to talk to, for the rest of her life.

* * *

It was one of those few days Kululu saw peasants to hear about their complaints. He usually just made their complaints worse, but this time, he had offered to let Mois hear the complaints, too.

"Maybe you'll actually make them better and they'll stop coming to me," he reasoned.

"I've never actually done this in my kingdom. I tried, but all the people were too afraid of me," she admitted.

"...People can be afraid of what they think is different." He actually tried to comfort her a bit, knowing from his own experiences that he had been feared for his genius.

Mois nodded and smiled gently. "So that's what happened... I always believed evil was born, but really, it's made..." She looked almost sad.

"I wasn't talking about me!" Kululu denied. He took her hand and led her to the throne room. Boredly, he listened to the villagers' complaints.

Mostly, Mois gave helpful suggests, until one particular villager came up.

"It's those darn Keronians! They're not obeying me! It's as if they think they're equal to me, gross... Can you help me get my Keronian employees to be more obedient, perhaps with more slave laws?" the villager asked.

"Ku, I can make you a slave if you want. That might be fun," he joked. He didn't much like people who had anti-Keronian views, but it wasn't like the Keronians were any better. They hated each other, too.

"Kululu..." Mois gripped his shoulder. "We should kill this one."

He was surprised about her bluntness. But then, he reminded himself she was used to executing evil villains.

"Then, my dear, why don't you do the honor?" He handed her a sword off the wall.

"Wait... What?" The villager freaked out. Mois took the sword and got closer and closer to him. Finally, in one clean swipe, she cut off his head.

Kululu was impressed. _Cool... _he thought to himself.

"Anyone else who persecutes anyone based on species will be killed by me. Anyone who is cruel to another based on their origin or anything else of the sort shall face execution!" Angol Mois yelled to the crowd.

Many left in terror.

Kululu pat her on the back.

"Good job. You did great..." he complimented. "You know, maybe I should bring you to these things all the time."

"Th-thanks? But I really didn't do much..." She frowned. "I suppose I did kill somebody."

"I believe those who are evil should be punished. Well, except me. I shouldn't be punished. Ku, ku, ku."

Maybe there was a way to use Mois. Make it so she wasn't too innocent, make her more evil.

"You know what, let's kill the lot of them. Let's kill everyone you deem evil. Let's just have a mass killing. Ku, I've decided... as the dictator of this kingdom, I'm going to take it upon myself to teach you how to be a better evil dictator yourself. You've got the fear factor, the power, the drive. You'd be perfect for it!" he told her.

"Teach me to be an evil dictator?" Mois didn't know if she wanted to be evil. "But I'm only doing this out of justice."

"But do you enjoy it? The power you get from others? Killing someone?"

"...Yes..." she confessed. She had never told anybody that she actually enjoyed her job, not even Natsumi. But Kululu seemed to understand.

"You'll be the best evil dictator around," he decided. "Well, not as good as me, but still... You'll be good."

* * *

He dressed her up in dictator attire. It was his fee for the lesson.

He was learning more and more that having a beautiful servant was not a problem, but something that could have a lot of perks. Especially those perks of being able to look at her in different outfits he designed.

"Natsumi used to dress me up, too. She didn't look at me quite as much as you do," said Mois It was the first time she had mentioned Natsumi in a while.

"Do you miss her?" he asked, trying to distract her from the fact he was staring.

"I do," she said. Kululu frowned. The more time he spent with Mois, the more important it became to him that she was happy with their arrangement. She barely ever showed that she missed anything; yet, when she did, it surprisingly hurt him.

He didn't realize how distracted from his revenge he had become.

"You look great. Now let's go out killing," he told her, letting her take his hand.

It was just like the dance, except now, they were doing a dance of death. Every step they took, another soul died.

And Angol Mois was enjoying it just as much as Kululu. That's what concerned her the most.

_Am... Am I evil if I enjoy this? Am I just like Kululu? _she wondered as Kululu helped her act out orders in the kingdom and kill people he had never liked anyway.

The people were horrified.

* * *

Her innocence still lingered, though. Feeling more companion-like with Kululu, she sometimes gave him her own tips.

"I think you could make this kingdom into a much better place, but perhaps it might help if you acted a little more benevolently, actually helping the people sometimes," she suggested.

"And how would I do that?" he asked her. "_Why_ would I do that?"

"Because the people who aren't cruel don't deserve bad lives. If bad things happen to them, they might become bad, too, and that would be the fault of the one who hurt them, not the people," she told him. "Please, try to make the kingdoms better."

"How?"

"Maybe using those inventions to make the kingdoms better places?" she suggested. "You could really help with crop growth." She smiled at him. "I could help you be a nicer ruler, if you want. We can do little lessons, just like the dictator stuff." She locked eyes with him.

He was unable to refuse her eyes and smile, so he let her teach him and even make the kingdoms he ruled a bit better.

* * *

_This is troublesome... _Kululu realized one morning. _She's taking up all my thoughts. I thought I'd get a useful servant out of this deal, but really she's having free roam of the castle by this point. She's completely taken over my life. She's constantly in my head...I just keep thinking about her. How cute she looks, how nice she is... What's going on? _If Kululu was stupid, he would have said there was a magic spell on him, but he wasn't.

He knew exactly what had happened, and it was too late to prevent. There was no magic of love, he had just fallen in love with her sweet nature, her love for justice, and everything about her.

He didn't have time to be in love. He had revenge to complete. Yet, Mois had clouded his thoughts and his heart.

And he found himself more than once puzzling over how to win her over instead of how to kill Natsumi.

_It's obvious! I just use my looks. Nobody can resist them. After all, I look as beautiful as I do ugly on the inside. Which means I am quite beautiful. _Kululu was in no way modest about his curse, as he had seen many times girls falling for him.

So, once again, he decided to use his bodily charm against Angol Mois.

"Mois," he requested, "help me unbutton this shirt. It's stuck," he lied, hoping to seduce her.

"A-all right." She seemed a little surprised, but she helped him take off his shirt, undoing each button slowly.

"Ku." He waited for her to stare at him, to check him out, or anything like that. But her eyes remained fixed to his face, never wandering at all. "May I have a back rub?" he asked. Perhaps now at least she had an excuse to look at him. She'd like that.

"I can try, but I'm not very good at them. I've never done one before," she said. She led Kululu to a chair to sit down and began rubbing his shoulders.

After a few minutes of her touching his back and getting out all the knots, he decided he didn't much like this scenario. He was becoming way too undone just by her simple touch on his bare back, and it was extremely hard not to moan as she massaged him.

"Okay, sit down. It's my turn," Kululu ordered.

"Huh?" Mois was confused.

"I'm going to rub your back," he told her. "You've been working hard, and you deserve it."

"B-but... I'm your servant..." she reminded him.

"You're a princess. Or can you not recall?" he asked. "You deserve to be treated as such; don't forget that."

Mois nodded after the pep talk and sat down. Kululu slowly rubbed her back, trying to touch her as much as possible, to at least have her show some interest in him touching her.

But she didn't even make a sound. It was like she was completely disinterested.

His looks hadn't done anything to her, and touching her hadn't done anything.

Perhaps, for once, the looks he prized himself on just weren't good enough.

* * *

Mois didn't know what to do in the castle she had been imprisoned in. She had first been intrigued by Kululu's sudden and random bursts of kindness, and intrigued by him in general.

She also admired his genius and how, although he was cruel, he also knew that those who were evil deserved to be hurt the most.

She was just genuinely interested in him. She liked spending time with him. She liked not being afraid to act like herself, the terrifying princess that had scared away anyone from approaching her back in her kingdom.

Yet, she still felt uncomfortable by him. For one thing, he was extremely attractive, and she felt wrong seeing him as that.

_His soul is completely evil. I can't be attracted to him. It goes against everything I know. _Yet everyday, he grew more interesting to her, something she wanted to be closer to.

What disturbed her the most was realizing she didn't even mind when he was jerking people around. She had grown to like it, sometimes even giggling a bit when it happened.

He was making her evil.

And worst of all, she enjoyed being this new her. She barely ever thought back to her kingdom and Natsumi. Instead, she looked forward to the next day with Kululu.

It took her two months, but as she was reading one of her fairy tale books, she slowly realized that she was falling in love with her companion.

"No! I can't be... He's everything I've learned to stand against..." Yet, she cared for him so deeply. Thought of him so much, the argument that he was pure evil wasn't even worthwhile anymore. She had put that aside long ago. It was just denial at this point.

She had always seen herself falling in love with a prince charming, yet Kululu was capturing her heart more and more.

She was his; she knew that, but she wanted to be so much more with him.

_I can't, though... He invaded my kingdom and imprisoned me. Sure, I could probably fly away whenever I wanted, but I can't be with him. That would be wrong._

She tried her hardest to avoid anything that made her feelings known. When she was unbuttoning his shirt, she stared at his face, making sure not to seem attracted to him. When she was rubbing his back, she tried not to enjoy it, and when he was rubbing hers she tried to be as rigid and cold as she possibly could, trying her best not to make a single sound.

It was working. At least he didn't know of her feelings.

"What am I to do?" she wondered. This has never been the way she had imagined her romantic life. At the same time, it felt so right.

She still fought it as much as she could. She wouldn't become evil, although... at this point it was very appealing.

She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she held onto what little values she had left.

* * *

Nothing was working. Mois just wouldn't notice him. It was a constant struggle. When he wanted her to look at him, she didn't. And when he didn't, she would.

For once, he wanted something not evil. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and love her.

_Maybe it's not working because I imprisoned her, _he speculated. But Koyuki's words to him rung in his head.

Nobody would ever love him; he was too cruel and evil. Angol Mois was no exception. She was being kind to him because she had to, not because she cared about him.

He cared about her, now. He didn't want her not to care about him, but he also didn't want to be cruel to her.

"Mois... Do you ever miss your home?" he asked one day.

"Yes," she admitted. "The crystals in my castle were gorgeous. But I made my choice and I'm here now. And I will not leave. I'm learning to adapt. I can be happy here, too!"

Kululu looked at her almost sadly. He had ripped her away from her home, and now she was forced to pretend to be happy with him.

He stood up. He was an evil dictator. He could make whatever choice he wanted, just like he had decided to let her live.

"Mois. I'm letting you go," he told her.

"What?" she asked.

"I don't want you here anymore," he said. "I won't hurt your kingdom. You're free to go." _It was wrong to imprison someone like you, so pure and beautiful. I forced you to be in the darkness with me, but I will make things right. You will never love me, I know that, but I can at least do one good thing for you. Free you from me._

"You... want me to leave? I'm free from my service from you?" Mois didn't look too happy. She almost looked sad. "Like you want me to leave, as in be free? Or get out of your sight?"

"Get out of my sight," he lied. _You're too innocent for here. Too precious to be broken._

Angol Mois looked so hurt. "B-but..." Little tears were coming down her eyes. He had never seen her cry before, not even when he had almost killed her. "But I like it here!"

"That's a shame. I'd rather be alone here. Without you. I don't need you being near me," he said. He led her to the gate of his castle and pointed. "Good-bye."

Mois cried, but Kululu still shut the door on her.

_That... That was much harder than murder... _he breathed as he shut the door. Her crying face was still fresh in his mind.

She'd get over it, though. She was safe from him now. And free. After all, it wasn't like they had developed a companionship in _her_ mind.

* * *

Mois knew she was free now. But she also cried. She didn't want to never see Kululu again.

He had been harsh and sketchy at first, suspicious to her, yet she had fallen in love with him, the guy who she could be completely honest with and genuinely enjoy spending time with.

He hadn't felt the same, though; that much was clear. He had shut the door on her face and cast her aside.

She cried, because even though she was free, her heart had been broken.

And although she would be able to find Natsumi again, she felt alone.

"So this is what Natsumi had to go through when her stranger never returned to her..." Mois cried. "I already miss him..."

She loved him. She had accepted that fact all too late. And the heart break was tragic.

Both of them were equally suffering from it. They both didn't want to become what the other suffered from, but they had both developed some of the other's traits, anyway.

Their hearts were merged, yet separated.


	18. Wartime Friendship

**Just a quick flashback of what all the other characters were doing in the months that Angol Mois was imprisoned.**

**Short chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

It had been months since Angol Mois had left. Each day, Natsumi mourned her loss.

Now she had no one. No one except Saburo, her betrothed. She missed all the people she lost, but she honestly tried to get along with Saburo.

He seemed to be perfect. He helped the people of the kingdom get over the loss of their old ruler and gave Natsumi pointers on how to rule in Mois's steed.

"I know how to rule. I used to be a princess of my own kingdom," she would point out.

Saburo would shrug, and say, "I know. But this kingdom is a lot different than yours."

And Natsumi would just nod.

She couldn't say that she was falling in love with him, but she did enjoy his company. He certainly helped make things run more smoothly.

And her loneliness helped her tell him almost everything about her.

"What kind of things do you like to do? That you're good at?" he would ask. And she would tell him about her amazing strength and determination. "Now what are you bad at? You seem too perfect!"

She would smile at his compliments and tell him that, too. "I bond onto people too quickly, and then it hurts when they leave..." she confessed.

"That's a normal feeling to feel. It's all right," he comforted. Natsumi would take his comfort.

It was all she had.

_Mois... Why did you have to go? You knew he probably wanted me, yet... _Tears dropped off her eyelids.

Her friend was gone. Never coming back. Just like her strange dance partner, her family, and Giroro.

They were all gone. All that was left was Saburo.

And although she got along with him, she couldn't force herself to love him.

She wasn't in love with him and probably would never be. She felt like it was almost unfair to Saburo, but it was the truth.

* * *

"Do you like it in the sea?" Momoka would ask Fuyuki constantly. Fuyuki would always nod and enthusiastically answer yes.

"H-how... How long do you think you'll be staying?" she finally asked one day.

"Probably forever! I can't imagine myself being anywhere else... I mean, I'd like to visit my sister back in the Kingdom of Justice, but... this place just feels like home now, you know?" he said. Momoka nodded and squeezed his hand. "And... it also has you, so I'm not leaving anytime soon."

She blushed. "F-Fuyuki... I would like for you to stay here forever... I really would. So... I want to ask you officially..." She swallowed. "Will you stay in the sea with me forever and help rule the Sea Kingdom?"

"Huh? And how would I do that?"

She frowned. "Fuyuki, I'm asking you to marry me."

"Oh! Oh, ummm..." He paused, flustered. "O-okay..." Honestly, he knew he couldn't imagine marrying anyone else, though he was flustered by Momoka's blunt question. But he was also excited to finally seal everything between him and Momoka and officially be able to stay in the sea.

"YES!" Momoka was thrilled. "The wedding will be tonight, then!"

"Th-that soon?" Fuyuki was shocked, but not surprised. Somehow it seemed very like her.

* * *

He didn't have time to invite his sister. It was a wedding only for the sea. Momoka stayed in the water and he stood on the beach, staring at his mermaid bride and smiling bashfully.

Momoka had quickly organized a wedding for all of the sea to be part of, all of them present in the waters.

"Do you, Fuyuki Hinata, prince of the Third Kingdom, take Momoka Nishizawa, princess of the First Kingdom, as your wife forever?" Paul asked.

"I... I do?" Fuyuki hadn't researched the proper words for weddings, but he answered what felt natural.

"Do you, Momoka..." Paul was cut off.

"YES! Yes! I do! Now let us kiss and seal the deal!" Momoka begged.

"All right, then you may now kiss the bride," Paul finished.

Fuyuki walked into the water and kissed Momoka, not the newest of feelings to him. He was quite used to it, but it also felt special to him. He was her husband now.

"Momoka..." Fuyuki just gave her a nice smile, letting her know he was happy with the choices he had made. She held him closely, knowing their was no future better.

* * *

Keroro and Tamama lived in their village completely happily. The two spent time together, getting to know each other, without another care in the world.

"You want to play some games like hide-and-seek or tag or something?" Keroro was quite childish by nature. Luckily, Tamama was okay with that.

"Sure!" he smiled.

And the two continued their blissfully happy lifestyle.

* * *

Dororo and Koyuki had finally made it to the war. It wasn't the frontlines on the wall, but it was pretty close - the beach nearest to the Kingdom of the Sea.

"What does it look like?" Dororo asked, not being able to see. Koyuki had put a bandage over his eyes, but she wasn't sure they would heal from the damage.

She held his hand tightly, leading him to where he was supposed to go.

"It looks like bloodshed..." she said, gazing on the beach covered in blood. There were no monsters as of yet, since it was the middle of the night. But there weren't many living soldiers, either.

"I can smell the death." Dororo's face crinkled in disgust. "Why is nobody protecting these poor people? Why do they all have to die?"

"To protect those who are weaker. To protect us. They're doing their best," Koyuki told him. She scanned the field for any movement.

There was a giant rock, and she noticed a figure waving to them behind it. She led Dororo over.

"Why haven't you two found shelter? Don't tell me you're new recruits," a red Keronian with a belt scolded.

"We're new here," Dororo told him. "But we are not recruits, we're..." Dororo felt he could trust the other Keronian. He sounded nice and caring. "...refugees, from the dictator who's been conquering kingdoms."

"You chose the wrong place to come, then. You'll die faster here than near him," Giroro growled.

"But so will he if he follows us," Dororo pointed out. "And I doubt you know of his danger. He pushed me out of a tower and blinded me. He wants us both dead. This was the only place he wouldn't follow us."

"What did you do to tick him off that badly?" Giroro asked, raising a brow.

"We wanted happiness," Koyuki answered, "that was all."

"Jerk," Giroro responded. "Hopefully, you two are strong enough to survive the night. I've seen many weak soldiers die on their first day. I'm lucky to have survived this long, but I suppose I've trained just to be here."

"So you wanted to go to war?" Koyuki was confused. "Who would want that?"

"I would," Giroro responded. "It was my dream - well, one of them - to do well in war and come back a hero," he told them. "Dreams are nothing here, though. All that matters is strength." He frowned. "I should have probably seen that dreams are nothing except fantasies. None of my other dreams have come true..."

"Your other dreams?" Koyuki asked. "Like what?"

"I, too... wanted happiness with someone. It wasn't as simple as somebody coming between us... It was more of the system that we were born into just made it so we weren't meant to be. Every time she was close to me, I messed up somehow. We just weren't meant to be..." he spoke softly.

"I'm sorry for your loss..." Koyuki truly was.

"You were probably a great guy," Dororo told him. "There's still hope, friend. If we two were able to find happiness here, you'll be able to find happiness with her somehow." He smiled. "Don't worry about us, either. We're strong enough to survive this war. I just need to learn how to sense enemies better without sight."

"Hopefully you can do that before the night finishes. What're your names, by the way? If you die, I can at least remember your names for you," Giroro offered.

"I'm Dororo." Dororo outstretched his hand.

"Giroro. Nice to meet you." Giroro was honestly happy to see another Keronian on the field, and was surprised to see another couple who were Keronian and Pekoponian. It made him very pleased.

"Koyuki Azumaya," Koyuki told him.

Giroro froze. "Koyuki Azumaya, as in the old princess who was killed by the dictator of the Second Kingdom eleven years ago?"

"Yes... But I wasn't killed. He just locked me in a tower," she explained. "I'm a princess, but I haven't really been one since I was five."

"So that's why he wants you dead... You escaped!" Giroro figured out. Koyuki nodded. He was shocked to find that the princess of his kingdom was alive and he was meeting her.

Maybe there was hope for him and Natsumi if this other Keronian had found companionshipi, and possibly love, with a Pekoponian princess.

"Don't worry, I will make sure both of you don't die," Giroro vowed. They were nice people. People that didn't deserve to die.

"I'll do the same for you," Dororo vowed.

He knew this Keronian would probably grow to be a dear friend.


	19. Red Sash

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**All right! Back to the main plot.**

**Hahaha, my friend found this story. She loves fairy tales, so I hope I didn't butcher any in her eyes.**

* * *

Angol Mois sniffled lonesomely. She would finally be able to see Natsumi again, but the heartbreak was still fresh in her heart.

She easily made it back to her kingdom and passed the guards that Natsumi had put to the protect the castle gates. All them were in shock at their lost princess returning, and they bowed. Mois paid them no mind.

Mois entered the halloway, and the second she saw her friend, a smile crossed her face. "N-Natsumi!" She sprung herself at her in a hug instead of saying any greeting like "Hey, I'm back" or anything.

"A-Angol... Angol Mois!?" Natsumi was shocked when she saw her, crying into Mois's dress. She hugged her instinctively, not knowing what to say. She just let her cry for a minute, imagining the horrible things Kululu had done to her to make her cry so much.

"It's all right... You're home now." Natsumi stroked Mois's hair, wanting to cry herself, just knowing that her friend had come back to her. _She's alive... She's back... I'm just so happy!_

"H-He was such a meanie at the end!" Mois bawled. "I... I m-missed you so much, but then stuff happened and I did some terrible things!" She was very non-descriptive on the time spent away with the onquerer.

Natsumi just assumed Kululu had done awful and horrible things to the girl. She continued stroking her hair, hoping to calm her.

"I missed you so much, too. You saved my life, and I will always owe you for that. I kept your kingdom safe for you, and now you can rule it once again... I'm just happy you're alive," Natsumi comforted. "But I'm sure he did really awful things."

Angol Mois nodded, looking up at Natsumi with tears in her eyes. "The outfits he dressed me up in had sooo many buttons! Such complicated designs."

"Ummm..." Natsumi didn't know if that counted as torture, but if that was what was at the top of Mois's mind as something bad, then it must have been something much more horrible than she was letting on. She had a duty to help her friend.

"A-and then, once he invented something that took an image of a moment and f-froze it in time! And he took an image of us together!" she cried. "I thought it had meant something!"

"He must have been terrible," Natsumi told the crying girl.

"Uhhh... Y-yeah..." Angol Mois lifted her face off of Natsumi's chest to try to recover.

Natsumi still stroked her friend's hair in a comforting sort of manner. "I'm glad you're back. I thought I'd never see you again," she admitted.

"I thought I wouldn't see you again, either..." Mois confessed.

Natsumi held her for a moment more before she decided to start speaking again. "Y-you know... He conquered my kingdom... killed my parents," Natsumi confided. "And since then, I've sworn revenge on him. I'm going to kill him, Mois. And if you want, you can help me. He's done wrong things to you, too."

"Uhhhhh..." Mois didn't know what to say. Natsumi hadn't seemed to pick up on the fact that Kululu actually wasn't terrible and that she was just sad that she was discarded. "You could say, pass?"

"Yeah, I guess you're not a murderer... Wait... You are..." Natsumi paused for a moment to think about that. "I bet you're angry about everything that happened. And I do know something that can help someone who's angry."

"Murder?" Mois asked curiously. That was what Kululu would have said.

"No. Training. Beating up trees or practice dummies. Here. We'll go out to the courtyard and I can show you some moves. It'll make you feel loads better." She flashed her a smile. "I promise."

Mois nodded and followed Natsumi out trying, not to dwell on the fact that Natsumi wanted to hurt Kululu and that she didn't want to choose between either of them.

* * *

Natsumi handed Mois a sword.

"Whenever I was mad about what happened to you, I pretended that dummy over there was Kululu and I cut him up real bad," Natsumi told her. "Let me demonstrate." She charged at the dummy with a sword and sliced.

Mois nodded and tried to do the same, but she wasn't very good. She didn't hold the sword right, nor did she pull down the proper way.

"M-Maybe I'm not angry enough," she said. Although, she _was_ a bit ticked at Kululu.

"I doubt that... Hmmm... Maybe swords just don't work with you. Try a different weapon." Natsumi got out a rack of them. "Which one speaks to you?"

Mois looked at them curiously. Her eyes finally rested on a spear with one end in a crescent sort of shape. It didn't seem very practical, but she smiled at it. "This one."

"A spear? Hmmm... I can't really see you as a spear sort of girl, but let's try it." Natsumi was just happy that her friend was starting to cheer up a bit.

Even though Mois wouldn't make Kululu pay for his sins, Natsumi would. She wouldn't let Kululu get away with hurting her friend. He would die.

Mois tried again, slickly cutting off the practice dummy's head.

"Good job!" Natsumi clapped.

"Th-that was... really fun!" Mois smiled. "It is making me feel a bit better..."

Natsumi smiled. "Try again, then..."

* * *

Natsumi watched her practice for just a few hours. She just tried to bask in the happiness of her being back.

Eventually, she got a bit tired of watching Mois slice and stab dummies. She needed to do things, to help the kingdom make a better army against Kululu.

"I guess I'm not acting princess anymore, but there are a few kingdom things I probably need to attend to," Natsumi admitted. "Is it all right if you do the rest on your own?"

"Sure! This is really fun after all! Go have fun with the kingdom or something, just remember, never hurt those who are not evil. Our kingdom is one of justice after all." Mois smiled and looked at the dummy again.

Natsumi waved and left, wandering through the garden for Saburo. He helped her with organizing things, after all. They had gotten to know each other quite a bit.

"Saburo!" She smiled and ran up to him. "It's a miracle! Mois has returned!"

"Oh?" A flicker of confusion went through Saburo's face. "I... I didn't expect that... Thought that conquerer would have kept her longer. Wonder why he released her?"

"Yeah, it's a miracle!" Natsumi smiled and sat down on a bench. "I suppose we don't have to make important decisions for the kingdom anymore."

"And we should just focus on our wedding?"

Natsumi frowned, reminded of that. "Y-yeah."

"I'm excited for it, honestly. You're very beautiful and very smart," he said. "I actually got a gift for you. Would you like to see it?"

Natsumi nodded, curious of the gift Saburo had gotten. He picked up a small box from the ground and opened it to reveal a beautiful sash, red and gold colored, that was perfect for her waist. It glowed with beauty.

"I got this for you. Would you wear it for me?"

Natsumi smiled almost bashfully. She was quite touched by the gesture of Saburo getting a gift for her.

She stood up and turned around. "All right," she agreed

Saburo put on gloves before he took the sash out of the box. Carefully, he wrapped it around Natsumi's waist and tied it.

"You look beautiful," he told her. Natsumi smiled.

…_Huh!? _Natsumi suddenly felt dizzy. Maybe Saburo had tied it too tightly? The dizziness pounded in her head and she felt like collapsing.

She fell over into Saburo's arms. Saburo smiled and caught her.

"You know... before I lived in the Kingdom of Justice, I lived in the Second Kingdom. The conquerer Kululu's, actually," told her.

_Huh? Why is Saburo telling me about his life? I don't know much about him. Maybe he trusts me enough to tell me a bit about himself? _Natsumi almost felt like she couldn't move.

"I was an ambitious young guy. A traveler. I eventually butted heads with the conquerer himself, you know." He continued smiling as he fingered around in his pocket and gently leaned Natsumi onto the bench.

_Good. Everybody should butt heads with him. _Natsumi wanted to smile, but she couldn't. It was almost like she had come down with paralysis.

"I wanted a kingdom of my own, and I thought he would destroy me for that. But oddly enough, we got along, and he eventually hired me to do something for him that somebody else apparently couldn't. In return, he promised to help me get a kingdom of my own, and I assumed he meant this one, so I'm a bit confused why Mois is back. Maybe he meant a different one, though, oh well." He shrugged. "Still have to be true to my promise."

_...Huh? He was employed by Kululu? When did he double-cross him? What's happening? _Natsumi's eyes were drifting closed. She didn't know what was happening.

"First, I had to find out your strengths and weaknesses. Easy enough. You gabbed a lot. Your weaknesses are that you bond onto people way too easily and that you're gullible. This made it way easier for me to get close to you." Saburo took out a dagger from his pocket. "The second part of my mission, Natsumi, was actually to kill you. Deliver your heart to Kululu as proof of your death."

_...Wait... He's going to kill me? _Natsumi felt like she couldn't move. Couldn't think.

"The sash I gave you has a rare drug that makes you paralyzed. Will eventually poison you into a coma, too. I suppose I didn't really want you to feel pain. I'm not that nasty of a guy. I just want to do the job I'm going to be paid for," he explained.

She couldn't feel anything. His words were drifting farther and farther away. She tried to fight, but instead, a deep blackness filled her soul.

Was this what it felt like to die? She didn't know. All she knew was she couldn't connect with reality any longer.

She was gone.

She felt nothing.

* * *

Saburo leaned over Natsumi's body, pointing the dagger to her chest, ready to carve out her heart. He hadn't done this much before besides with boar, so it would probably be an experience he couldn't stomach.

Still, he was determined.

"Natsumi! I'm done! Can we spend more time together?" The voice of Mois came out from nowhere as she walked toward them.

"Princess Mois!" Saburo quickly hid her dagger, hoping and praying she hadn't seen it. _Oh, no. She found us! What am I supposed to do now, kill her too? I suppose it would be easy. She's not as strong as Natsumi._

Mois froze as she saw Natsumi lying on the bench and Saburo over her.

"She collapsed... I don't know why!" he lied. Mois narrowed her eyes, her spear in her hands. "D-do you think she'll be okay?" he asked. He hoped Mois was as gullible as Natsumi.

Strangely enough, a slit on Mois's forehead appeared and opened, revealing a third eye. It glowed and stared down at Saburo.

"I never judged you, and I just realized that." Mois spoke in a silent and firm voice.

"Huh?" Saburo was confused.

"You haven't heard the rumors about me. I suppose that says even more than what I just saw." Mois took out her spear and pointed it at him.

Saburo jumped back and held his dagger toward her to protect himself. _She's not going to kill me, is she? She doesn't have the stomach for that stuff! Right?_

"You were going to kill Natsumi... She might already be dead. For that, you must die." She was not afraid of his puny dagger. She floated closer and closer.

"Like you can kill me," Saburo laughed. "Just let me carve out her heart and I won't kill you!"

"I've killed thousands already. Why would I bat an eyelash at you?" she challenged. Raising her spear and flying toward him, she cleanly sliced off his head.

There was no scream. It was a quick death and execution. Mois's victims barely felt much pain.

His head fell to the ground, and as promised Mois didn't bat an eyelash.

"I suppose I'll have to clean this cool spear," she frowned. Then she turned to Natsumi.

"Natsumi!" She ran up to the girl, but Natsumi wasn't moving at all. Mois held her hand, but she couldn't feel anything. She began to cry.

She didn't know if Natsumi was dead, but it might have already been too late.


	20. Sleeping Beauty

**So 20th chapter. Six more chapters left.**

**This one's a bit short too. Sorry about that.**

**Anyway, here you go, another chapter!**

**Notes...uhh...? I rip off of another fairy tale. My apologies. Sorry.**

**Special thanks to my beta reader again.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Natsumi wasn't waking up. She was lying there as if she was dead.

Mois had to accept the truth. Her friend had been murdered before she could even help her.

"I have some very sad news..." she began to her people. "The princess of the Third Kingdom we were sheltering has been killed..."

She started crying during the announcement, not wanting her friend Natsumi to be dead. She didn't want it to be true. But it clearly was.

There was nothing she could do.

* * *

"Ku, ku, ku..." Kululu gazed into his mirror at Natsumi's poisoned and paralyzed body. She wasn't dead, he knew that by just looking at her body for a while, but she was suffering. And it would be easy enough for him to kill her.

She was as good as dead, and that was all that mattered. All because of a poisoned sash.

Saburo had been killed to further the mission, but at least Kululu's goal was finally inching to completion.

He was ectastic at the news. Absolutely pleased.

_Take that, Third Kingdom! Your precious princess is now dead to the entire world, _he laughed in his head.

He'd probably have to go over there somehow and finish the job, but he could wait. He just had to wait for her to starve from her paralysis, bringing about a very painful death.

He was so close to his goal. So very close that he could taste it.

He had won. Finally. All he ever wanted was in front of him.

_Why do I feel like things aren't over yet, then? _he wondered. Was there something else he was forgetting?

Perhaps another royal in Natsumi's family.

_Eh. I can't be bothered by that little dweeb of her brother. He's probably doing whatever. Maybe he drowned on the sea. Hopefully he did, _Kululu laughed.

If he was still alive, then natural disasters would probably bring about his death. Kululu didn't really need to bother about Fuyuki.

* * *

"Did you hear the news?" Dororo asked as Koyuki shared him a bit of her bread. "They say the princess of the Third Kingdom has passed away..."

Both Koyuki and Giroro perked up, but Dororo didn't notice.

"That can't be true," Giroro insisted, the first among them to go into denial. "She's way too strong to be brought down by anything. It has to be a mistake."

Sorrow crossed Koyuki's face though. _Is this my fault? I advised him.. .He must finally be complete with his revenge... _She was sad. She had played her part, and someone had died because of it.

Giroro wouldn't believe a single word of it, though.

* * *

Rumors didn't get to the Kingdom of the Sea quite as quickly. Instead, Fuyuki learned of his sister's fate through pure coincidence.

"Hey, Momoka..." Fuyuki hugged his new wife from behind. "You can see stuff through your crystal ball, right? And even contact people?" He had seen a crystal ball on her desk.

"Yeah, why?" she asked. "You don't want to contact Alisa or anything, do you?"

"Nah. I want to contact my sister. She should know how I'm doing and that I'm still alive and fine," he said. "Can I use your ball?"

Momoka nodded. "You have enough experience with magic to know how to use it. You've become quite a fine sorcerer."

"Still can't breathe underwater without kisses, though." Fuyuki seemed disappointed at that fact. He was growing quite tired of having to wake up after every hour to get another kiss because he couldn't breathe. Now that he had decided to stay in the sea forever, he needed to invest in a permanent solution to his problem of being a human. But first, he needed to contact his sister.

"Show me Natsumi!" He sat in front of the crystal ball, eager to see her. Instead of a happy princess, though, he saw her sprawled out on the ground, frozen.

She looked dead.

"SIS!" Fuyuki screamed at the image. Somebody had killed Natsumi!

"Wh-what happened, Fuyuki?" asked Momoka.

"I need to go. I need to see my sister. She might be in danger... Or it might be too late." Fuyuki was solemn. Momoka didn't stop him.

She didn't know what else to say to him; she just looked in the crystal ball and saw the image he himself had seen.

"Fuyuki... What are you going to do if she is dead?" Momoka finally asked before he left for the surface.

"Punish the person who did this to my sister," Fuyuki glared, his eyes cold. "I'm not losing anyone else, not like I lost Dad..."

Momoka frowned filled with sadness for her king. She hoped he wouldn't lose himself in his quest to save Natsumi.

She was afraid for him.

* * *

Riding the wind, it didn't take long for Fuyuki to make it into to barge into Mois's castle and make it to his sister.

His fears were confirmed as he saw her on a bed - lying, not moving.

"SIS!" Fuyuki screamed, running to Natsumi's body. He cried as he looked at her. His sister, once filled with life, was still and cold.

Anger instead of rationalization filled his mind.

A door swung open and Mois walked in, holding flowers in her hand to put on Natsumi, to honor her lost friend.

"Y-YOU... YOU DID THIS!" Fuyuki pointed at Mois accusingly. She was the one he had left to care for Natsumi. She was the murderer that Fuyuki had been frightened of.

"...Huh?" Mois was confused as to why Fuyuki was there. He must have wanted to visit his sister. "I'm sorry..." She apologized for the loss of Fuyuki's sister, but Fuyuki took it as a confession of guilt.

"You won't need to judge anymore souls. Nobody else will fall prey to you." Blue magic encircled Fuyuki's hand as he focused.

Mois dropped the flowers in shock as Fuyuki pointed to her and the magic encircled _her_ instead.

"I'm not a killer, though, so I won't kill you. But I do know enough magic to curse." The magic lifted Mois up higher and higher.

"F-Fuyuki... Wait... Your sister wouldn't want this..." She tried to focus, but Fuyuki was possessed by anger and the magic.

"You will never bother anyone again, ever. You won't die, but you will sleep forever... Forever and ever you will sleep in the place you killed my sister, your castle!" he cursed. He was thankful that Momoka had taught him non-lethal curses.

Mois screamed loudly as the magic cursed strapped itself down to her, and she fell to the ground, calmly sleeping.

Fuyuki nodded, glad of his work, and turned away. He didn't need to pay attention to his sister's murderer. He turned to Natsumi instead, to pay attention to her.

He held her body close and cried.

"Sis... This wasn't supposed to happen..." he wept. But as he held her, he felt his body growing weaker and weaker.

He dropped her to the ground.

"Th-there's poison on her!" he realized. He tried to calm down and observe the situation rationally, to figure out what was wrong with his sister.

He noticed a red and golden sash around her waist. It seemed unusual and tight. Quickly, he untied it, hoping his sister would find some peace after its removal.

Natsumi started coughing. She was alive!

"SIS!" Fuyuki hugged her as she coughed.

"I'm... I'm alive?" Natsumi flexed her hands in shock.

"Yeah! I guess that sash was poisoned or something with a drug... If nobody had taken it off of you, you would have stayed dead." He frowned.

"You saved me, Fuyuki..." Natsumi smiled at him and hugged him back. "What happened while I was drugged? How did I survive? I thought Saburo was going to carve out my heart!"

"S-Saburo...?" Fuyuki paled. "Who was he...? Was he involved in your murder, too?"

"Yeah. He's the one who gave me the sash and tried to kill me on that dictator's orders," Natsumi explained. "He and I were to be wed, but it was all just a ruse to kill me."

Fuyuki looked down, sudden guilt overcoming him. He had cursed the wrong person.

"I... I'm sorry, Sis..." he told her. Natsumi looked at him confused.

"What are you sorry for? You saved me!" she said, affectionately ruffling her brother's hair. "You came back for me!"

"But... I thought somebody else killed you... And I hurt her..." he confessed.

Natsumi stayed in a good nature. "Who?"

Fuyuki moved out of her way and pointed to Mois. Natsumi gasped.

"Mois!" She ran over to her friend and examined her, holding her closely. "Sh-she's sleeping..."

"While I was gone, I learned magic... I cursed her to sleep forever. I'm sorry... She w-won't be waking up... She's as good as dead," he said truthfully.

Tears went down Natsumi's face.

"She was probably the one who saved me from Saburo... Sh-she was my friend..." Natsumi held Mois, knowing that she had found a terrible fate. First she had to be near Kululu and then she had to sleep forever. She'd been wrong. People _could_ sleep forever. "She was my best friend! She stuck by me and n-never left... F-Fuyuki, there has to be a way to bring her back! Right? Right?" Natsumi asked, horrified.

"She was your friend... I'm so sorry, I had no idea... I was just so mad..." Fuyuki tried to defend his actions, but there was no real defense for what he had done. "I... I didn't research the way to remove this particular curse..." he admitted. "I don't know how to remove it. She'll probably sleep forever because of me."

Natsumi cried loudly, sorrow filling her heart.

"Y-you must hate me..." Fuyuki realized.

"I could never hate you. You're my brother... And I don't want to lose any more family..." she cried. "Not like Dad... Not like Mom..."

"Wait... But I thought Mom was alive!" he reminded her.

"I lied to you, Fuyuki. She was killed." Natsumi's tears ran down her face. "I would never hate you. Even if you had killed Mois," she told her brother. "But you can't stay here."

"Wh-what... Why not? I want to stay by your side until you're well!" he told her.

"The people will turn against you for removing their princess. Mois never had any heirs, and they didn't particularly like me as a ruler. They saw me as a conqueror myself. If they knew you were the one to hurt their princess, they'd kill you," she told him. "You have to leave, Fuyuki."

His eyes widened. "Fine. But I'll stay for a day. I need to make sure you're okay. And I'm sorry..."

"Sorry's won't make up for what is lost, Fuyuki. But I know you didn't mean it." Natsumi forgave him, but still mourned Mois.

Blaming people for things that they didn't mean would just lead to more bloodshed. She knew that.

She wasn't going to blame her brother. She was just going to mourn the loss of her friend. Mois hadn't even been back in the kingdom for very long. That was what was saddest.


	21. Poisoned Death

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Also the chapter where an apple is actually mentioned. Hence the title.**

**I have five more chapters left until the end!**

* * *

The rumors about Mois's eternal slumber didn't spread nearly as quickly as Natsumi's reawakening. The Kingdom of Justice had always been shrouded in mystery, and so had their princess, so not many people paid much mind to the rumors about Mois, except for those who lived in her kingdom.

However, Kululu was an exception to those people. He constantly listened to the rumors about what was happening in Mois's kingdom.

And when he heard a supposed rumor about how Angol Mois had been cursed, he immediately checked his sources instead of panicking.

"Show me Mois," he quickly ordered his mirror. He saw her body in bed, sleeping peacefully.

_That's not suspicious... Maybe she's just normal-sleeping... _he hoped. He saw Natsumi walking over her and stroke the girls hair.

_Tch. Guess she's awake, then. _Kululu was annoyed at how fine Natsumi was. Then she started talking.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you on my behalf. I know... I know that you'll never wake up now because of me. Cursed into an eternal slumber... That sounds awful... I'm so sorry..." Natsumi apologized.

_Cursed? So... Mois is cursed to sleep forever, just like the rumors said? _Magic didn't exist, though. Somehow, somebody had used science to inflict this fate on her.

But Kululu knew secretly that there were some curses he couldn't break. He couldn't make his body into that of a Keronian again. He had accepted his fate.

Mois would be the same way. She would be asleep forever, as good as dead. He'd never get to hear her talk or see her smile, not even through his mirror.

She was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. He had made a mistake in releasing her because now Natsumi had taken away something he had loved.

This time, instead of his own life being threatened by the royals of her kingdom, it was someone he cared about who had been hurt because of Natsumi.

Kululu turned away from his mirror and cried. He could no longer bare the image of his sleeping beauty. The one thing he truly cared about was now gone and lost to him forever.

* * *

He cried to himself for a good long while, until he tried to bury his pain deeper.

There was only one person at fault for her pain, and it wasn't him. It had been Natsumi. She had even admitted it.

_If there's one thing I'll do for you, it'll be revenge. I won't hold back any longer. Ku ku ku. I will destroy Natsumi, and I'll do it the same way she's destroyed me. By breaking her heart and then taking my revenge. _His goal still existed, and Mois's fate hadn't changed that.

He needed to stop sending minions to do it himself. He needed to go forth and destroy Natsumi on his own. Confront her face-to-face.

_I should have never focused on killing Aki so much and allowed her the chance to run. That was my biggest mistake. _He wouldn't allow her the chance to run again. She wouldn't even _want_ to run from him, after he was done with her.

First, though, he needed to build another ray gun. A ray gun of disguise. Quickly, he made a beam that would change his appearance to please her eyes, to make him look like the stranger that she had danced with.

The one she had fallen in love with.

He looked at himself in the mirror after he was done, marveling at his disguised tan skin and his blond hair. None of it was real, but it certainly looked like such.

"Ku, ku, ku... Now, I need the weapon for her unfortunate demise..." He would use poison again. That was what he decided.

He quickly messed with some chemicals and picked a harmless apple out of his fruit basket. _This'll look like magic to anyone who looks at her, but nobody will be able to cure it, because nobody believes in science._

He coated the apple in a powerful poison, but only on one side of it, just in case she didn't trust him. The other half would be the half he would eat.

The poison was potent, not enough to kill her. But it _would_ put her in an eternal coma just like the one she had inflicted on Mois... something so only her nightmares would greet her, nothing like reality.

Death would be too nice for his enemy, after all.

She'd find the same fate she had given Mois. Nothing else would fit her punishment.

After he had finished, he was ready.

"Ku, ku, ku. Time to go out."

* * *

Natsumi picked some flowers in the garden, hoping to give them to Mois. She wondered if her friend could feel anything that happened to her, or that her emotions of friendship would somehow be communicated back.

She wanted Mois to at least have good dreams, instead of nightmares.

"Hello, my princess." She heard kind words behind her. She turned around and saw the stranger she had danced with at the ball.

"It's you!" Natsumi pointed. She didn't think about why her stranger was there, but she hugged him, anyway. "I looked everywhere for you!"

"I'm sorry, I should have come. But I wanted to wait, to make sure that you really wanted me," the strange blond man told her as Natsumi hugged him.

"I do! I'm just so glad... that somebody came back to me." She hugged him tighter.

"My love, of course I'd come back to you. I'll always find you, no matter where you go," Kululu told her, a more sinister meaning behind his words. "I brought you a present... I was wondering if we could eat it together?" He took an apple out of a basket he was carrying.

Natsumi froze for a moment. The last present she had gotten had been poisoned, and she was still a tiny bit frightened.

"It's fine," Kululu told her. "I just thought eating something together might make us a bit... closer." He whispered those words seductively into her ear. He licked the non-poisonous side of the apple. "We'll eat it together, and our mouths will get closer and closer until the horrible distance between them will be closed."

Natsumi smiled and giggled, placing the apple into his mouth. He bit into it to keep it from falling.

"Sounds like a silly game. I'll do it, but only to keep my mind off of things." As if she was about to kiss him, she bit into her side of the apple.

She began to swallow, and Kululu let go of his side of the apple. Natsumi fell over.

_No! I know this feeling! I'm losing consciousness! _she realized. Her brain pounded, and her body was unable to move.

"You fell for it." Kululu had to remind himself not to laugh. It would give himself away. "I'd just like to tell you, I never loved you," he hissed. He walked away cackling when he was out of ear range.

The last sight Natsumi saw before her eyes closed was that of her false love walking away.

* * *

Fuyuki walked throughout the castle, looking for his sister to give her a final good-bye. He found her collapsed on the ground, an apple in her mouth.

"AUGH! NOT AGAIN!" He screamed. Immediately, he tried to figure out what was wrong. She couldn't be dead. He examined her body, but she didn't look the least bit alive. He took the apple out of her mouth, but she didn't awaken.

"Sh-she... She swallowed it..." he realized. He looked around, not knowing who had done this.

He couldn't find anyone, so he cried.

"No... No... This can't happen again..." he yelled. "Not again..." He held his sister, but she would not awaken.

He didn't feel anger this time. Only sorrow.

"M-Momoka... Momoka will be able to heal her!" He hoped there was a magic spell to heal someone from poison apples. Whatever there was, there would be something he could research in Momoka's kingdom.

"Y-yeah... I'll make some sort of magic coffin for her on one of the beachy islands... She'll be safe there. I won't let Sis stay dead..." Fuyuki wouldn't accept that his sister was dead. And even if she was, he'd keep her body safe.

No matter what.

That was his vow. Natsumi would be safe. He'd bring her back. His beloved sister wouldn't be left to this fate.

* * *

There was one thing Fuyuki hadn't thought about though in his plan.

_How do I get back to Momoka's kingdom? _he realized. He had left without Momoka, only with a little bit of magic power. Certainly none that helped him breathe underwater. He needed a solution that would permanently let him stay with Momoka and let him research ways to cure his sister.

"_There's a sorcerer who lives in the east. He was the one who gave me a human body in exchange for my voice," _Fuyuki remembered Momoka telling him.

He knew she was talking about the dictator who had killed his and Natsumi's family. He swallowed, frightened for a moment.

The dictator could give him a mermaid body, but at what price? He needed to do it, though. Not only for Momoka, but for his sister.

So he let the wind carry him to Kululu's castle so he could make the deal.

* * *

At first, Fuyuki knocked the door, but after an hour of nobody coming to open it, he just barged in. "H-hello?" he called.

Kululu sat in a large chair, staring at the fire and nothing else. He didn't even acknowledge Fuyuki's presence. He was still mourning the loss of Mois, so he hadn't wanted anyone to interrupt him.

"Um... You're the one who gave Momoka a human body, right?" Fuyuki asked, trying to start a conversation with the scary dictator. He tried to keep his hatred down about how he now ruled Natsumi's and his kingdom.

"Yeah. I was the one who did that," Kululu finally spoke. "Can you leave now? I want to be alone."

"No. I need you to make the same trade with me. I'll give up my voice, but I need to become a merman," Fuyuki told him. "Take my voice, just turn me into one... Preferably in water..."

Luckily, he had already made the coffin that would keep Natsumi safe and transferred it to a beachy island. All he needed to do was get back down to Momoka and explain the situation.

"I don't want to. I want to be alone," Kululu insisted again. He looked almost sad, staring into the flames.

_Wait... The dictator that took our kingdom has feelings?_ Fuyuki realized. Kululu's eyes were puffy and red, as if he had been crying.

"D-did something bad happen?" Fuyuki finally asked after standing there quietly, waiting for his request to be granted. He was a bit intrigued.

"Be quiet!" Kululu snapped. He was silent for a moment. "Who am I kidding? What does it matter anymore? I'm done with it all. I've finished the task at hand... She's avenged, in a weird way, I suppose..." Kululu was talking to himself a bit, ignoring Fuyuki's presence.

_Ah.. .So he lost someone, too... _"I'm sorry about your loss." Fuyuki finally told him. "I know what you're going through... I recently lost my sister. Like... _really_ recently."

Kululu turned to him. "Ah. You're Fuyuki Hinata," he realized. "How interesting that you'd drop into my lap right as I don't care anymore."

Fuyuki wondered what he was talking about. _Probably about my kingdom. He probably wanted to kill me to ensure I wouldn't take it back._

Kululu then gave an odd laugh. "Ku, ku, ku. So you're experiencing sadness, too." _Good, _he thought to himself. What he had done to Natsumi had worked, then.

Fuyuki waited. "So can you make me into a merman?" he asked again.

Kululu was quiet for a moment. "If you promise to leave me alone. I don't even care to make some stupid bullshit contract right now. I just want to be alone. And you aren't going to leave unless I do that, right?"

Fuyuki nodded.

"I'll make the gun that can turn you into one. Shoot yourself on your own time." Kululu quickly assembled something he cared little about and tossed it to Fuyuki. "Now, leave... I have things to do."

Fuyuki felt kind of bad as he left, but he felt especially bad when Kululu uttered his last words that weren't meant for Fuyuki and just for himself.

"I miss you, Mois..." he whispered.

Fuyuki darted out of there with the gun just as it dawned on him. _I did this... _he realized.

Mois had people who cared about her, and he had just witnessed one of those people mourning her.

He felt terrible.

He left quicker than was needed, not wanting Kululu to discover that it was he at fault.

"Now... Now I can finally take care of you, Sis. When I'm back home, I'll research a way to heal you," he vowed.


	22. Cheering Up

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

A full year had passed since Kululu had completed his goal.

_But why do I feel so empty? Nothing's feeling better..._ he realized. He barely ever looked at his mirror to check up on Mois. He hated having to see her in such a sad state.

The state that she'd be in forever.

The rumors about Mois's curse had reached everyone's ears. But people had finally realized that Princess Natsumi had died, too, around the same time.

At first, they had just thought she'd gone missing. But stories about her death were finally circulating, telling of how only an apple - said to be filled with magic poison - had been left in her mouth at the scene of the crime.

Kululu didn't even cackle about how his plan had worked rather successfully. He was just so sad. He wasn't smiling anymore, not even evilly.

And the people who loved him were worried. Their ruler had locked himself away into his castle, not showing his beautiful face to anybody.

They kept bothering him to free himself, to show himself, so he finally did, needing a distraction from his boredom and his empty heart.

"As you all know, I am quite powerful. I can make anything," he addressed his subjects. "I am also quite bored, and done with all of this. The first person who makes me smile will hereby be granted anything they want," Kululu declared.

And his subjects went through a mad shuffle to please him in anyway they could think up.

* * *

The rumors of Natsumi's death had finally reached Keroro's small village. He hadn't heard anything about Natsumi and Fuyuki's fates for a long time.

"I heard that Princess Natsumi died. You know, our old princess?" a villager chatted to his friend. Keroro and Tamama were bringing some wood into their house when they heard the words.

Keroro dropped his wood.

"What's wrong, Mr. Hero?" Tamama smiled at him. He hadn't ever dropped the old nickname. Life with Keroro had been blissful, and Tamama was truly happy.

"F-Fuyuki... Fuyuki must be sad..." Keroro realized. He didn't know where Fuyuki was, but he knew now was the time to find his old friend.

"Who's Fukki?" Tamama asked, tilting his head.

"My friend... He was the prince of this kingdom before it was conquered. I need to find him, comfort him... I need to go!" Keroro said.

"Okay." Tamama knew Keroro's friends were probably important to him. "So, when and where do we go?"

"Um... I'm sorry, Tamama... But there's no 'we'... This is something from my past. I can't burden you with it," Keroro told him. "And, hmm... Where would Fuyuki be? He'd probably be where I heard Natsumi was last... The Kingdom of Justice. They just lost their ruler, so they're going through a lot of war and crime, but I'm sure he's there, because that's where Natsumi was... I have to go there." He squeezed Tamama's hand. "You stay here. This is something I have to deal with."

"No! I don't want to be left alone!" Tamama cried, shaking his head. Keroro turned his back to him, anyway.

"Sorry..." Keroro frowned, "but I'll be back soon." Tamama knew that was a false promise.

And just like that, Keroro left.

* * *

Keroro journeyed to the Kingdom of Justice. He spied the crystal castle in the middle of the city. He knew Fuyuki would be by his sister's side in the castle.

Lots of people who had once been ruled justly were now fighting in the streets. Keroro passed them, trying to ignore them.

Surprisingly, nobody was in the castle. It wasn't guarded by anything but thorns, which Keroro easily slipped past due to his small size. Nobody else seemed keen on entering the castle. Perhaps superstition caused them to fear it?

"Fuyuki! I'm here for you! I've returned!" Keroro called. But no sound greeted his ears. He looked throughout the castle for his friend, but could find nobody. Nobody, that was, except for a girl sleeping in a large room.

"Huh?" He gazed upon the girl's face. He didn't think anybody besides Fuyuki and Natsumi would have been in the castle. "Who is she?"

"She is the princess of this kingdom." A man with a mask with an 'N' on the front of it came out of the shadows, as if his time had finally come.

"Eek!" Keroro jumped back. "Who are you?"

"I am the Narrator. Princess's Mois's right hand adviser," the narrator told him. "I like telling people things."

"Were you... waiting for someone to ask a question about her just so you could explain it?" Keroro asked, confused.

"Uhhh..." The narrator blushed. "That doesn't matter. What matters is what you are doing here."

"I'm looking for Fuyuki," Keroro said. "Prince Fuyuki, Natsumi's brother. Have you seen him?"

"Sadly, yes. But he has long since fled his kingdom. He is the one who put our princess in this state."

"What do you mean? Fuyuki wouldn't hurt a fly!" Keroro defended.

"But he did. He was confused. He thought our princess was the one who hurt his sister, so he cursed her to sleep forever with magic. He then left the kingdom with the corpse of his sister, because he prioritized her safety over our princess who he had wronged," the narrator explained.

Keroro frowned. _He... He hurt this girl? And doesn't even get the chance to right his wrongs?_

Fuyuki was his best friend. He hadn't seen him in a long time, but no matter how much wrong Fuyuki did, Keroro would always stick by him. Fuyuki couldn't heal the princess because of focusing on his sister, but Keroro could.

"I'll heal her. I'll right his wrongs, no matter what. I'll find a way to awaken your princess," Keroro vowed, quickly forgetting his promise to return quickly to Tamama.

"You will? But how?" the narrator asked.

"By researching magic. I'll find a way to heal this girl. And I'll protect her in Fuyuki's steed no matter what."

The narrator smiled. He was glad his story had inspired somebody.

_Don't worry, Fuyuki, I'll right your wrongs off your record, _Keroro promised.

* * *

_My Dear Tamama..._

Tamama read the first line of a letter that Keroro had sent him and smiled. Keroro hadn't returned yet, but at least he had written to him.

_I'm sorry, but I will not be able to return anytime soon._

_I have found that the princess of the Kingdom of Justice needs me. I won't bore you with the details, but I have sworn to help her in Fuyuki's steed, so I will not be able to return._

_You should be fine on your own, right?_

_From, Keroro._

Tamama read over his letter multiple times before finally tearing it up and eating it. "HE ABANDONED ME FOR SOME WOMAN? HOW COULD HE?!"

Tamama immediately decided he hated this princess. He cried, because Keroro had ditched him.

He didn't know what to do.

_I don't need safety! I need you! I want your company because I love you! _Tamama thought to himself. Sadly, Keroro wasn't coming back.

He would beat that woman, he swore to himself. No matter what.

* * *

Keroro read the books in the castle, groaning a bit at how much reading he had to do.

But he had to research curses and magic. He didn't have to read enough to actually _learn_ how to use magic, just enough that he knew how to break the curse on the princess.

"Ah... Finally! I found something!" Keroro squinted at some tiny text in a book. It had taken a week, but he had finally found information that could be useful. "Curses can be broken with true love's kiss, unless otherwise specified in the curse."

Keroro smiled brightly. He didn't imagine Fuyuki would specify a different way to break her curse. That meant all he had to do was find the Princess's true love. And he knew the people who needed her would do that for him.

He stood on the balcony of the castle to get their attention. "I found a way to bring back your princess!" he shouted to gain the people's attention.

Briefly, some people looked up at him. Keroro got louder, hoping they would listen. "We just need to find her true love! True love's kiss will bring her back!"

"Oh! A Keronian thinks he can speak down to us? What a fool!" The people glared at him and didn't listen to a word he said.

Keroro frowned and tried speaking again, but the people below just threw things at him.

_This will be harder to spread the word without a little respect. _"Hey! Can you address them?" Keroro asked the narrator.

"I just like to observe," the narrator answered, refusing and waiting to see what Keroro would do.

Keroro frowned. _She can't be doomed forever just because I'm a Keronian. Somebody will have to spread the rumor and listen to me... Right?_

But nobody would. And Keroro begin to accept that he'd have to just stay near the sleeping princess instead of helping her awaken... because nobody would listen to him.

* * *

_Maybe Keroro left because I didn't have as much money as that woman? _Tamama wondered. He needed to bring Keroro back somehow. He needed respect.

He needed to go onto a journey and get power to compete with the woman Keroro had left him for.

So he left their cottage and headed out into the big world.

_Hmmm... Quest for riches... Quest for riches..._Tamama walked along roads and forests, looking for some sort of quest.

"Have you heard the news? A crowd has gathered at the castle, because his highness Kululu has offered anything in return for the first person who makes him smile!" two travelers gabbed to each other.

_Quest found! _Tamama smiled.

"What have people been asking for?" the other traveler asked.

The first one frowned. "A lot of his suitors are there trying to get his hand in marriage. Sadly, he's gotten rather annoyed by this, so he's enacted a rule that if you fail, you'll be killed. A lot of people are frightened to try now..."

_I guess it's a high-stakes quest. But I can do it! I'm sure I can! Because I'm doing it for love!_ Tamama headed to the castle.

* * *

Nobody would let him through the crowd.

"I want to try to make his highness smile, too!" Tamama told them.

Somebody laughed. "A _Keronian_ trying? You're going to die immediately!" Everybody was laughing at him.

Tamama's rage boiled, and steam came out of his mouth. "LET ME THROUGH! TAMAMA IMPACT!" He made an energy beam through the crowd, giving him a path to get through. "Thanks!" Then he bounced along his merry way.

They all stared in shock at him.

* * *

Kululu sat in his throne room, playing with a scepter. He was still pretty bored and sad.

When Tamama approached, Kululu sat up, intrigued. "Ku, ku, ku. Well, this is the first time I've seen a Keronian in front of me for the task.

"How long do I have to make you smile?" Tamama asked.

"Ku. I'll give you a week, because you're unusual and far more interesting than anyone else in the crowd," Kululu told him. "You'll live in the castle for a week until you've failed and I kill you."

Tamama gulped. He knew he had to impress Kululu, though.

* * *

He performed many jokes Keroro had taught him. They just made Kululu gag. Tamama tried everything he could think of, to sculpting his own farts into shapes and to making cake. None of them even made Kululu the least bit happy.

He was running out of time.

_Maybe... Maybe I can find a clue to what this guy's like? _Tamama hoped. He ran throughout the castle, ruffling through various stuff.

"This teacup is cool, right? RIGHT? SMILE WILL YA?" Tamama asked, his eyes going to anger.

"If stupid things in my own home would make me smile, I'd be smiling already." Kululu shrugged. "Sorry, but I guess you're going to die."

Tamama ran and grabbed other things he could find, inventions of Kululu's to show him, even cool clothing that he tried to compliment Kululu in.

"You'll look great in these!" he told him.

"Of course I do. I look great in everything," Kululu responded.

Tamama was getting desperate. So desperate that he finally started paying attention to fine details. Details like what was in his drawers.

Mostly just scientific notes, but as Tamama was ruffling through things he found a picture of Kululu and some silver-haired girl.

"What's this...?" Tamama asked, showing Kululu the picture.

"Ku. I invented something that could take pictures for me, and I took a picture of one of my servants at the time," he explained. He hadn't seen the picture in awhile, but he still treasured it.

"You look happy in the picture..." Tamama noticed. The servant with Kululu was probably no ordinary servant; more likely, she was someone he cared dearly about.

Kululu just said nothing.

Tamama picked up a crayon from the floor and drew on the picture.

"HEY! What are you doing, brat?" Kululu yelled, seeing Tamama doodle on the picture. Tamama showed him the new and improved picture that now had a heart around the two of them. "You two look perfect together."

He handed Kululu the picture, and he tried not to smile while looking at it. But a small smile flickered across his face at seeing Mois smiling and well.

"Ku. I guess... Something in my own house could cheer me up. ...You didn't need to add the heart, though." Kululu didn't say he disliked it, however.

"I WIN!" Tamama jumped up and down, realizing Kululu was smiling. "I did it!"

"Y-you did... I suppose." Kululu shrugged and pocketed the picture so he could be close to it. "Now... What is it you want?"

"Money! And land! And riches! I want to be a lord! I want a manor! And I want Keroro returned to me!" Tamama ordered.

"I'll get a servant to find you your Keroro, but money and land I can easily give. You are now a lord in this kingdom," Kululu told him. With a flick of his finger, Tamama's wish was granted.

* * *

Tamama waited in his new manor for Keroro. Keroro was dragged in kicking and screaming.

"Tamama? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I got us money! And land! Now you don't have to leave for that woman!" Tamama told him. "We're lords now. We don't have to worry about anything else."

Keroro's face lit to a smile. "I'm a lord? So I finally have respect? People will listen to me?" He hugged Tamama. "Thank you! This helps a lot!"

Tamama was so happy to have Keroro back.

"But I have to go now."

Tamama's smile fell to a frown. "What...Why?"

"I need to spread the word about how to cure her curse. This has helped a lot! Thank you!" And with that, Keroro darted out the door, once again leaving Tamama.

People finally listened to the words he was saying. The rumor was finally starting to be spread, but Tamama was alone.

And he cried, not knowing how to cheer himself up.


	23. Determination

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Hoping I can finish this tomorrow.**

* * *

Giroro had worked long and hard on the battlefield to kill as many monsters as he could. He never once forgot Natsumi as he fought.

The news finally reached his ears after a year on the battlefield.

"Princess Natsumi has been killed... again..." other soldiers were gossiping.

"What do you mean, again? If she survived last time, she'll survive this time!" Giroro pointed out. Natsumi was strong enough to trounce death.

Another soldier broke Giroro's happy mood. "She's been dead a year. And no word of her coming back. She's dead."

_That can't be true... Can it? Natsumi can't be dead. She can't be! _He knew in his heart she couldn't be. But, at the same time, the words hit him so harshly.

The truth eventually sunk in. Apparently, something big had happened in the Kingdom of Justice, leaving Natsumi dead and Angol Mois comatose.

Giroro couldn't cope with the loss of his most beloved. "N-no... No!" he cried, shaking his head. Dororo and Koyuki both tried to pat his back, but he just shook them off.

"I have... things to do..." He was very non-descriptive. All he had left was battle now that Natsumi was gone.

And he would do the best in battle that he could.

* * *

Despite Dororo's and Koyuki's cries, Giroro marched forward, straight toward a herd of griffons.

It didn't matter anymore.

"You want to challenge me today? Bring it!" he yelled as he readied his crossbow. He shot down as many as he could, but some still flew toward him. Thinking of how Natsumi was dead, he got distracted, and one picked him up.

Giroro tried to struggle free but was dropped face first into the ocean below.

"GIRORO!" Koyuki screamed, the only one to see what was happening.

Giroro plunged to what he thought would be his demise. He fell into the waters below and closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.

* * *

Giroro was lifted onto a rock by somebody else, though - a mermaid.

"You almost drowned. What are you, stupid?" the mermaid with light blue hair growled.

"Who are you?" Giroro asked.

"Momoka. I was swimming in the area and you got lucky that I took an interest in you. Why aren't you thankful or happy? THANK ME! It's polite," she told him.

"The person I love is dead. Sorry that I'm not completely happy," Giroro growled.

"How do you know they're dead? Did you see it?" she asked.

"No... I heard she was dead, though, from a soldier..."

"I'm sorry..." Momoka apologized. She sat with him for a few minutes. "Are you going to be okay?"

"No. But I suppose that doesn't matter," he responded.

"You know... You remind me of someone my husband once told me about... A friend of his sister's, I believe. A strong, red, lovesick keronian. It didn't work out between my husband's sister and the Keronian, but if you believe, I'm sure that magic will find its way to you and save your love from her fate. Good things do happen in this world. You just have to wait for them," she told him.

With that, she ducked back into the water.

Giroro was silent, letting her words sink in. Then he swam back to shore to Dororo and Koyuki.

* * *

Dororo and Koyuki both tried to mend his injuries, but Giroro brushed them off. All he wanted to do was sleep and try to think about all that happened that day.

So he went to sleep on a the ground and curled up, ready to dream about a world with Natsumi.

It didn't take too long for Natsumi to appear in his dreams.

"G-Giroro... Help me..." she begged. "Only you can save me..." Giroro reached out to her but could not touch her. "Find me... There's more to this story than you might think."

"I will! You're too strong to be dead!" he called. Natsumi was stronger than this.

He woke up and shook Dororo and Koyuki awake.

"I'm leaving," he told them. "I'm going to find Natsumi. I'm sure she's not dead."

"Giroro..." Koyuki frowned.

"I suppose you won't be satisfied unless you see a body." Dororo frowned. "But it would be wrong to make you go on your own. Let Koyuki and I accompany you, please... At least so we can help you cope once you've found the truth."

Giroro reluctantly nodded.

And the three left the battlefield together to head to the Kingdom of Justice.

* * *

War and poverty had wrecked the kingdom. The castle once filled with crystals was now surrounded by thorns.

Some people talked about the cursed princess, but Giroro tuned them out as soon as he realized they weren't talking about Natsumi.

"When was the last time anyone saw Princess Natsumi?" he asked. Nobody answered his questions, just replying that she was dead, except for one person who appeared out of the shadows.

"One year ago. Her brother took her out of the kingdom in a coffin," a man with an "N" shape on his face explained.

"So... So she is dead?" Giroro's hopes were crushed.

"I believe that's not what Prince Fuyuki thought. That's why he took her back to the Kingdom of the Sea. It's rumored he keeps her on an island, researching a way to cure her."

Giroro thanked the strange man and went off.

"I'm not the only one who believes there's a way to save Natsumi. See!" he told Koyuki and Dororo.

They were honestly surprised, but one strange with a bit of information man didn't mean Natsumi was alive.

* * *

"I found it! The way too cure magic!" Fuyuki told his wife. "The apple she ate is probably this mythical poison apple I researched. And the way to cure it is true love's kiss! All I have to do is find my sister's true love!"

"But we don't know anything about your sister's love life," Momoka pointed out.

Fuyuki looked over at the crystal ball. "That will show me who Natsumi was in love with." He concentrated on the crystal ball for answers, and soon an image appeared of Natsumi dancing with a strange blond man. The image stopped on a glass slipper that the man had left behind - the last clue to finding him.

"The man who fits that glass slipper will be Natsumi's true love, and he'll be able to save my sister," Fuyuki realized, smiling. "I'm going to broadcast a message to the Kingdom of Justice to restart the search for this man... No matter what."

* * *

"So we head to the Kingdom of the Sea," Giroro decided. That would be where Natsumi would be.

Suddenly, above the castle, Fuyuki's face appeared, a bit transparent and blown to great proportions.

"MAGIC!" Koyuki shouted. "Pure magic!"

Everybody looked up to see the face.

"Good people of the Kingdom of Justice, I ask you a request," Fuyuki spoke, unable to hear them, but them being able to hear him. "My sister has been poisoned, but I have been able to figure out a way to save her life..."

Giroro grinned, glancing at Koyuki and Dororo.

"A kiss of true love will save her. And due to magic, I've been able to figure out who she truly loves. A while ago, she went to a ball and danced with a blond-haired man who wore glass shoes. I ask you to please deliver this glass-shoed man to me, in the sea. I will reward anyone who finds him with gold. He'll be the one who fits the shoe - "

Giroro perked up. Fuyuki was talking about him!

_I can save Natsumi! I really can! _he smiled, and then his smile faltered.

"What's wrong?" Koyuki asked when Fuyuki's face disappeared.

"He asked for the blond-haired man, not some Keronian. Natsumi would never love a Keronian," Giroro reminded himself.

"Where can we find this glass-slipper wearing man?" asked Dororo.

"H-he's me... I turned Pekoponian to dance with her... once. But... I have since lost that ability." He frowned.

"Just go to her as yourself, then!" Koyuki told him.

Giroro shook his head. "There is another way... The person who did the magic that made me into that man she loved once. I don't know where he is, but I will find him. I will find him and make him turn me into a Pekoponian again." He was determined.

"The magical being... What did he look like?" Dororo asked

"Long purple hair... he wore glass on his face, covering his eyes for some reason. He - " Giroro was cut off by Koyuki.

"You made a deal with Kululu? Kululu?!" she yelled.

" 'Kululu?' You know him?"

"He's the one who imprisoned me," Koyuki told him. "He's the dictator of my kingdom."

He cursed briefly. "Then that is who I have to make a deal with."

"Giroro... Don't. It's dangerous," Dororo warned him.

"Don't come with me. It's dangerous for you, but I will still go. I need to turn Pekoponian for her. To heal her." Giroro turned away from them.

Before they could say anything more, he left. Left to face true evil and beg for help from him.

He'd do anything for Natsumi.


	24. Frog Prince

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Sorry this is late, I finished it, but it wasn't edited for a while.**

* * *

Giroro took a deep breath as he stood in front of the castle of the person Natsumi hated most.

He had left Dororo and Koyuki. It was too dangerous for them to follow him.

Instead of knocking, he barged right in. He was afraid, but he couldn't show that. He was going to ask the most evil of people a favor.

He couldn't show fear.

* * *

Kululu was looking at the picture of Mois and him. As soon as he heard footsteps, he quickly put it away.

"Well, well, what are you doing visiting me?" He recognized Giroro as soon as he saw him. The failure who hadn't done his part of the bargain. A true idiot through and through.

"I... I need a favor," said Giroro.

"And why would I do someone a favor?" asked Kululu. "I'm the strongest man in the Four Kingdoms. Why would I want to give anybody anything? There's nothing I need."

Actually, there was one thing he wanted, but Giroro would never be able to deliver it.

But there was something that Giroro might be able to give him - amusement. And that was something Kululu desired very much.

"You made a deal with me a long time ago. You might want to make another," Giroro told him. "I need to turn Pekoponian again."

"Ku, ku, ku, you didn't do your part of the deal, though. You never delivered any new information on the princess Natsumi." He let out a laugh. "Luckily, that's a problem that was remedied."

_I'm guessing her brat of a brother researched about "magic apples" and thinks something stupid like true love's kiss can heal it, _thought Kululu._ Luckily enough, my apple was nowhere near magic. If Giroro turned Pekoponian, nothing would result of it except more heartbreak._

_So I suppose turning him Pekoponian might be fun._

"What will you give me in return for turning you into a Pekoponian again?" Kululu asked.

"Anything."

"Hmmm...How about your belt? That might be a nice trophy to have." Kululu knew Giroro was only carrying one thing.

Giroro held onto his belt. "No," he refused. "This is special to me."

"Why?" asked Kululu.

Giroro blushed, but realized he had to tell the evil dictator the truth. He slowly took off his belt.

"I can't move properly without this on... It has a special charm in it." He opened it up and took a scrap of bark out.

"Bark? That's your special charm?" Kululu asked, amused by the patheticness.

"It has Natsumi's and my name inscribed in it. It's bark from the tree we met near," hd admitted. "I cannot give it to you."

Kululu wanted to laugh at how pathetic that was, but he realized he had something left behind by his love, too. A picture.

"I'll make you into a Pekoponian," he finally agreed. _He won't leave me alone if I don't. And anyway, I can have some fun with this. Break hearts even if something happens and she miraculously wakes up._Kululu quickly made a gun that could turn Giroro into a human, but added something in it that would turn him back if he were somehow kissed by Natsumi. He knew it would cause embarrassment and heartbreak of both parties.

"What do I have to do for it?" Giroro asked, curiously and suspiciously.

"Ku, ku, ku. Nothing! Consider it a present from your 'fairy godfather,' " Kululu told him, shooting him back into a human. "Get out of my castle. I'm not giving you any clothes."

His fun had already begun. He threw a naked Giroro out into the world to find his lost love.

Kululu sighed and got ready to watch from his mirror all the incredibly awful things that would happen to Giroro.

* * *

He sat in his chair, comfortably watching Giroro beg on the streets for clothes.

The door barged open again.

"Ku, ku, ku, why does this keep happening?" Kululu wondered. He needed to install better security.

Tamama ran in crying. Kululu didn't care about Tamama. His purpose had already been served.

"He left me! He left me for that woman!" Tamama cried.

"When did I give you the impression we were friends?" Kululu asked, wondering why Tamama had to cry to him. He didn't really care about Tamama's love life and his love rivals.

"All because she was a princess! He wanted to save her from some eternal sleep and use the reputation I gave him to spread some stupid word about how true love's kiss would awaken her! Who cares? I surely don't! Why does he have to care so much for that stupid Princess of Justice!" Tamama bawled.

Kululu's ears perked up as he processed the information Tamama gave him.

Tamama's love had left him for Mois. That was one thing he had processed. This guy also believed strongly in magic and thought that true love's kiss might awaken her.

Kululu had never really believed in magic or curses, despite all the times he had seen them, but any hope he was given or any new information was important. He knew it was possible for someone to change, due to a kiss now that he had added something to Giroro's human transformation that would change him to a frog after being kissed. Perhaps the science used on Mois had been the same?

There could be a valid reason that a kiss would awaken her. But only some sort of crappy "true love" kiss.

"So... Your love is with Mois right now, spreading the word that true love's kiss might awaken her from her slumber?" asked Kululu.

"Who's Mois?" Tamama asked, confused.

"I... I believe it might be time to visit her. To see if what he says is true. There might be a reason for it, I suppose." Kululu needed the hope. He needed to believe that there was a chance to save Mois.

Tamama was happy. "So we're going to retrieve Mr. Hero?"

"I never said you were invited on my trip," Kululu pointed out.

"I'm coming along, anyway," Tamama insisted. Kululu couldn't get the annoyance off of him. "Hey, is Mois the girl in that picture with you?" he finally asked.

Kululu ignored him.

* * *

At last, Giroro had gotten clothes, and he had trecked all the way to the Sea Kingdom. Dororo and Koyuki had joined him along the way.

"We just need a boat to find the island Natsumi's on. Then I can kiss her, and hopefully, she'll come back to life," Giroro told them.

"We can quickly make a raft," Koyuki smiled. She didn't know how Giroro had done it, but he had managed to convince Kululu for a human body. She still couldn't shake this suspicious feeling, though.

* * *

Fuyuki gazed at his sister's body in the coffin, waiting, almost, for her savior to come. A raft landed on the beach and a blond-haired man with two other people came out.

"I am the man you are looking for," Giroro told him, smiling as he saw Fuyuki. He knew he could trust him.

"I know... You found Sis... I'm so happy," Fuyuki smiled. "Please... Please, kiss her." Fuyuki, with a wave of his hand, let the coffin open up to reveal Natsumi's face.

Giroro blushed, but moved forward to do his duty. Everybody watched, staying still, hoping something would happen.

"Natsumi... Please... Wake up... I love you," he told her, gazing down at her face. He focused on her lips. Slowly, he moved down and kissed her. The kiss was slow and filled with love. He held Natsumi's hand, hoping for a sign of movement.

She squeezed his hand.

Giroro smiled and withdrew their mouths. But Natsumi's eyes did not flutter open. Nothing else happened.

"Oh, no..." Fuyuki frowned. "It... It didn't work." He wondered if the man in front of him was just not Natsumi's true love, or if she was really dead.

"I'm so sorry," Dororo apologized.

Giroro frowned. "I... I don't know what went wrong... She squeezed my hand, I swear it! She's really alive... She just can't wake up. Am... Am I not her true love or something?" he wondered. The heartbreak was reaching him.

Fuyuki didn't know what was wrong, either. He just cried. Everybody mourned Natsumi, except for Giroro.

He felt as if something was wrong. _She definitely squeezed my hand. But the kiss didn't do anything... Wait... Is it not magic we're dealing with?_

"How did Natsumi come to such a fate?" Giroro asked.

"She was poisoned by an apple," Fuyuki told him.

For the first time in a while, Giroro used his head.

_What if the apple was just poisoned normally? What if there is no magic? _He put his hand on Natsumi's face and caressed it. His fingers trailed down her neck to the top of it where he felt a lump.

She hadn't completed swallowing!

"Fuyuki... Please forgive me for what I'm about to do to your sister." Giroro used his immense strength to pick up the coffin and jerk it upward, along with her body.

"SIS!" Fuyuki screamed.

As her body jerked upward, so did the lump. A chunk of apple fell out of her mouth and she began coughing.

Giroro smiled, crying at the sound of her actually moving.

"I-I'm alive..." she wheezed, rubbing her throat. She looked up and saw the sight of the man who poisoned her. "What... What are you doing here? Didn't you try to kill me?"

"Why would I do that, my princess?" Giroro acted like his other self and bowed. "I was away from you until now. I was at war. When I heard the news that a kiss might save your life, I came to you as soon as possible."

Natsumi was confused. "Then... was the man I saw not you?"

"You saw me? I... I poisoned you?" he spoke. "I assure you, I was at war. I could do no such thing."

"Yeah. He was with us," Koyuki piped up.

"Perhaps it was a sorcerer taking his shape," Dororo suggested. "He is the man you love most, correct? So maybe somebody wanted to hurt you deeply."

"The dictator... He wanted to kill me. He wanted to kill me so much, he enslaved my friend." Natsumi was reminded of his power. He might have used magic to hurt her.

It didn't matter anymore. She was safe. And the stranger she had loved so much had come back to her.

Giroro didn't believe Kululu would give him the form of a Pekoponian to help the person he had poisoned. He didn't believe Kululu was responsible.

"It doesn't matter anymore, I guess. At least I'm safe and you're here." She smiled and hugged Giroro. "I didn't know you'd ever come back."

"Of course I'd come back. I love you," he told her. Natsumi smiled, leaned forward, and kissed him.

As she kissed him, he started shrinking.

"Huh?" Natsumi asked, but it was too late. The man who was in front of her was now gone and replaced with a red Keronian. "G-Giroro...?" She was very confused.

Giroro looked at his hands and felt his face. "ARGH! HE DID THIS!" he yelled.

"Giroro..." Natsumi reached forward, confused, but finally realizing things were coming into place. Giroro had been the man who danced with her. That was why the stranger seemed to know her and why he hadn't shown himself to her again. Why there was nobody who had his foot size. He didn't exist; he was the shape Giroro took as a human.

Giroro had returned to her. One of her dearest friends. He had finally come back.

Giroro was blushing, but turned away before Natsumi could say anything.

"Now that you know the truth, I suppose I can't show my face to you again. I'll take my leave of you, forever this time. You won't see me." He rushed into his raft, Dororo and Koyuki following him.

"Giroro!" Natsumi yelled, but it was too late. He had fled into the waters.

"I'll go get him," Fuyuki told her. She didn't have enough time to ask him why he was a merman.

* * *

"Giroro... What are you doing?" Dororo asked.

"I'm leaving. I have to go now. I ruined everything. Her happiness will be gone. She can't be with me; I'm just a Keronian!" said Giroro. "I broke her heart. I have to hide from her, leave forever... Go back to war. I don't know. I have to go."

"But to where?" Koyuki asked. "She'll find you, you know."

"I suppose I'll have to go the one place she can't follow, then. Beyond the wall, where all the monsters are. I'll kill two birds with one stone. I'll make sure she doesn't find me, and I'll find out where those monsters are breeding and destroy their breeding spot. She won't see me ever again. And that's the way it's supposed to be," he explained.

"Don't be foolish, Giroro," Dororo told him. His plan was a stupid one based on fear that Natsumi wouldn't like him as a Keronian.

"You won't be coming with me. I'll leave the raft as soon as we find the wall," Giroro said.

"You can't make us," Koyuki frowned. She wasn't abandoning her friend. Dororo nodded. And the three set out, climbing the wall and avoiding monsters to go to the lands beyond.


	25. Alliance

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I finished this in a month! I'm so glad.**

Kululu entered the castle in the Kingdom of Justice. It had been a while since he had been there.

Keroro sat by Angol Mois's bedside, reading her some books.

"You've been relieved of duty. Go back to Tamama." He spoke like a ruler, talking down to Keroro.

"Wh-who are you?" Keroro bristled. "I can't leave! I need to find her true love!"

"How do you know true love's kiss will wake her?" Kululu asked, wanting to check the facts before he did something stupid.

Keroro grabbed a book. "I've been researching magic and curses. The person who cursed her didn't specify a different way for her to wake up, so the default of this spell is true love's kiss."

Kululu thought for a moment, remembering Tororo and how he had needed to specify a way for Kululu to turn back into a Keronian.

It might not have been a magic curse, but a scientific curse that everybody believed was magic. Either way, the way to get her back might still be true love's kiss, as specified.

"I'll find her true love. You don't need to stay by her side. I'll do it," Kululu volunteered. His best bet to awaken her was finding her true love, but he had no idea where to look for that.

"And why should I trust you?" Keroro asked.

"Trust him! He has her best interests at heart!" Tamama popped up behind Kululu. "Mr. Hero! He'll find her true love. Really. And then we can go home together."

Keroro frowned. Was it right to abandon this girl to a stranger? But Tamama trusted him.

"Fine. But promise you'll find her true love," Keroro ordered.

"I promise," Kululu told him. Keroro felt at peace and left with Tamama. Fuyuki's wrongs would be righted.

Kululu stayed by Angol Mois's side, looking at her for a moment and thinking.

He tried to remember what she had told him about herself, how she had no family, how a monster beyond the wall had brought her to this kingdom two thousand years ago.

_So... her real species probably lives beyond the wall. And one of them is probably the best bet I have of finding her true love. Someone just like her. _So if he really wanted to fulfill his promise, he'd have to go beyond the wall, looking for someone nice from her species.

He would do it. Anything to get her to awaken again. He couldn't bare the pain of her gone any longer. Even if it would throw away the kingdom that he had conquered, he'd do it to awaken her again.

"Mois..." He leaned down on his knees to talk to her. "I'll go beyond the wall for you. I'll find an Angolian like you and make them come here to kiss you awake," he told her. "I... I want you to wake up."

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips good-bye, knowing that it was very unlikely that he'd ever return. He smiled as he saw her only rustle, and not wake up from his kiss. Just normal sleep rustling. "I love you, Mois," he told her, knowing that she'd probably never hear his words. "Good-bye."

He then left the room and stepped through a teleporter that would take him to the top of the wall, where he wanted to be.

With that, he was gone.

Mois yawned, because sleep rustling wasn't normal for her curse. "Huh...?" She looked around, opening her eyes. She had heard Kululu's last words to her, but yet he was gone.

She just blinked sleepily, very confused.

* * *

Kululu didn't have many tools on him for his journey beyond the wall. He didn't even know where to look for wherever Mois's species lived.

He just walked, trying to ignore monsters and for once not draw attention to himself. But a griffin spotted him anyway and flew down toward him, without him noticing.

"Look out!" Giroro yelled, shooting a few arrows at the griffin. "It's dangerous here. Why are - ...It's you!" he realized, pointing at Kululu.

"Ku, ku, ku... What are you doing here?" He noticed Koyuki and Dororo backing away. _My invention must have worked wonders if he was so hurt that he went beyond the wall._

"I'm going to destroy the monsters here once and for all, so if you've come here to make me suffer any more, it won't happen. I'm on a mission, and the mission is something I will give my life for," he told him.

"I'm not here to bother you. I'm here to find someone," said Kululu.

Koyuki disapproved. "You left the kingdom all alone?"

"Ku, yeah. My bad," Kululu told her. "If you disapprove so much, why don't _you_ go look after it? You're the one it actually belongs to, after all." He was done with ruling that kingdom. There was a chance that his revenge against Natsumi had failed, but his first priority was finding Mois's lover. He needed to save her instead of focusing on some warped revenge plot.

Koyuki didn't believe what she just heard. "You're... just giving it back?"

"Sure. Seems I might not be coming back, anyway."

"Can you fix my eyesight as long as you're giving back things?" Dororo asked.

"Nah," Kululu responded. Dororo cried.

Giroro looked up at him. "You intend to die here for your mission, too. Are you also running away from something?"

"For once, no. Believe it or not, I'm trying to help someone," Kululu admitted. Giroro did not believe it.

"Then... Dororo and Koyuki," he said, "you go back home. You have a kingdom to take care of. Not me. _You_. Dictator guy..." Giroro pointed. "You'll die here if you're alone. So... if you want any chance of completing your goal, help me. I'll help you find who you're looking for, and in return, you help me destroy the breeding pit, so no monsters can ever bother the kingdoms again," he requested.

"Fair enough request," Kululu agreed. It wouldn't hurt him having someone strong on his side.

Koyuki and Dororo hugged Giroro good-bye, but their goal had always been to protect the kingdom.

"Good-bye," they told their friend.

Giroro nodded and hugged them back. But he knew they had better things to do. They left him in the unknown land, to go back to reclaim their conquered kingdom.

"So... What are you looking for?" Giroro asked.

"A species. A species that look like humans," Kululu told him. "They'll have silver hair and three eyes. Like the Princess of Justice."

Giroro nodded, and the two went forth with their journey.

* * *

They were attacked by monsters several times, but Giroro always managed to fight them off. One time, he was in a tight spot, though, so Kululu helped him out. He threw a piece of food at the manticore-like creature, letting them eat it and fall to the ground.

"That... That was a poisoned apple..." Giroro realized. "You... You were the one who poisoned Natsumi!"

"Ku, ku, ku. You caught me." Kululu was proud of his poison job on Natsumi.

Giroro was furious. "I should leave you to defend yourself. You'll die on your own." He turned away to leave, but then decided against it. "I-it's... It's not worth it. Natsumi's alive again, she's fine... And we're both in a land that will kill us if we're not together," Giroro realized. "I'm not forgiving you, though!"

"So you woke her? Don't worry, I won't forgive you for that, either. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu was still bitter, though a bit relieved Giroro hadn't abandoned him.

* * *

The two finally saw something in the distance, something that looked like a village made out of crystals.

"We... We actually found it!" Kululu was surprised. No monsters flew over it. It looked safe.

The two ran forward to the village.

"Who are you?" a man with silver hair asked. "We've never seen outsiders here."

"I am Kululu. I come asking for help. Did any of you by any chance lose a baby girl two thousand years ago?" he asked.

The people frowned.

"Yes... Our tribe chief lost his daughter to monsters around that time... How do you know?" the man asked.

"I made her acquaintance in a land far away. She's been cursed by some sort of scientific invention to sleep forever, unless she's kissed by some sort of true love," he told them.

"Are... Are you speaking about Mois? That was to be her name... She's been hurt?" The man seemed to be a little bit concerned. "I was supposed to be her betrothed when she came of age in this village, but sadly, it was not to be..."

"You would do it for her, then. I ask you to fly far away, to her Kingdom of Justice and kiss her to awaken her. Please," Kululu begged.

The man thought for a moment. "I would be honored to kiss her." He didn't question Kululu's concern over the girl.

Giroro smiled. "Is your business done?" he asked Kululu.

"I suppose if he's going to do what I asked, then yes." Kululu nodded.

"Do any of you know where the monster's breeding pit is?" Giroro asked.

"I do," the white-haired man nodded.

"Where?"

The man gave Giroro's directions.

"Come on. It's my turn to do some business now," Giroro growled, not letting Kululu socialize with the Angolians.

They left the village without getting rest. One of them still focused on his goal, and the other one, not really caring what Giroro did.


	26. End

**Finally finished! This is the end!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Giroro! GIRORO!" Natsumi yelled. Fuyuki had told her that bringing Giroro back was beyond his power. That Giroro had headed beyond the wall.

So Natsumi, of course, had followed, determined to bring Giroro back before he did something stupid.

She was all alone, though, and frightened.

She was strong enough to fight off most of the monsters one-on-one, but she remained outnumbered most of the time.

"Hey!" The green-haired girl that had been with Giroro waved at her as she approached. "What are you doing here? You need to get back to the mainlands. Dororo and I are heading there... Want to come with us?" Koyuki asked.

Natsumi shook her head. "Not without Giroro. Do you know where he is?"

"He... He's determined to destroy the breeding pit of those monsters. Be a war hero. He went off with Kululu... The dictator joined us, for some reason, and made Dororo and me head off to reclaim our kingdom," Koyuki recapped.

"Wait... You're the princess of the Second Kingdom?" Natsumi was shocked, but Koyuki nodded.

"And I've been finally given the chance to rule again," she smiled. "So I couldn't go with Giroro. But I'm sure you can convince him out of doing something stupid." She patted Natsumi's shoulder. "Good luck!"

With that Koyuki and Dororo passed her and left.

* * *

Natsumi traveled deeper and deeper into the lands, trying to track Giroro's trail. The only thing that made her happy was knowing the dictator she hated so much was suffering with him.

"Natsumi!" She heard a high-pitched voice and looked up at the sky where it was coming from. Mois was floating down to her.

"Mois!? What...?" Last time she had checked, her friend was in an eternal sleep. Was she just going to see everybody she knew here?

"I'm so surprised to see you! I didn't think you'd be here!" said Mois.

"I didn't even know you'd be awake..." Natsumi was so confused. "Like... What... How?"

"I was woken up by true love's kiss, is what I was told," Mois said with a smile. "A green Keronian by my side explained it to me. But by the time I awoke, the person who had kissed me had fled to the land beyond the wall, trying to find my true love. I guess you could say, a foolish mistake? Didn't realize I did love him! I was super excited to see him and everything, after he confessed how much he loved me, but..." She frowned. "...he fled."

"Wow... I guess we're in the same circumstance, then. I was poisoned and woken up by love, too. Giroro - he was the stranger who danced with me - told me he loved me, but then it turned out he was a Keronian, a friend of mine, and he was so embarrassed he fled here and decided to take out of all the monsters who were breeding while he was at it. Strange, huh?" Natsumi asked. She was honestly overjoyed that Mois was back and had found true love.

"I'm glad he came back. But, yes, that is strange." Mois giggled. "Should we look for them together?"

Natsumi nodded. She couldn't wait to be by her friend's side again.

"I have to ask, though... Um... Who kissed you?" Natsumi was confused. She didn't know any boyfriends of Angol Mois's.

"Uhhhh... You remember that dictator that you hate, who conquered your kingdom, and imprisoned me for a few months?" Mois asked, wondering how to state this.

"...Yeah?" Natsumi didn't like where this was going.

"Well, he was actually super nice to me when I was in his care... And we sort of hit it off and fell in love, I guess, but then he was like 'nooo' and then he set me loose and I was sad, but then it turned out he loved me too, and now I am happy," she explained quickly.

Natsumi blinked.

"So... You're saying the dictator that I have sworn revenge on is your... true love?"

"Yes."

Natsumi sighed. "Oh, geez... I don't want to have to rethink killing him. Especially since he was probably the one who poisoned me... But, if you really love him..." Natsumi trailed off.

"Which I do." Angol Mois smiled, though not quite sure what Natsumi meant about the poisoning bit.

"Then I suppose I'll have to, won't I?" Natsumi would put an enemy aside for a friend. She didn't want to, but she supposed she would have to save the dictator, too.

* * *

Eventually, the two girls came upon a village.

"Is that a village?" Natsumi asked. She narrowed her eyes and noticed people who looked almost like Angol Mois.

Mois ran toward them. "Um... Are you who I think you are?" She had never known where she had come from. She knew it was somewhere beyond the wall, but if this was her tribe...

"Mois. So you've returned to us," they spoke to her, recognizing her instantly. "The purple-haired stranger was wrong when he said you were eternally sleeping, then." A bearded man with a spear approached her. "Our princess has returned..."

"So I'm princess of here, too?" Mois was confused. The man before her held forward a spear. "What's this?"

"Your birth right. Your power. Your Lucifer Spear. Don't you want it, our child?" they asked. She hesitantly took the spear.

It felt right in her hands.

A man with silver hair approached her, and before she knew it, he planted a kiss on her.

"It's wonderful to see you, Mois. I've been told I was your true love and kissing you would help - " He was cut off by Mois struggling out of his grip.

"Not interested," she said. "This has been really nice meeting, my um... origins... But I'm looking for someone. I have no intention of returning here," she explained to them.

They all looked disappointed.

"Did you see a red Keronian and a purple-haired guy?" Natsumi asked.

The Angolians sadly gave them directions, their princess already leaving them again.

* * *

"So..." Kululu didn't know what to talk about with Giroro while they were walking up the hill to a giant volcano-like breeding pit. "How are we going to kill the monsters?"

"Your magic, right? Got any ideas?" Giroro asked.

"I could make some explosives. But one of us would have to carry them into the pit to ensure that they went off," Kululu told him.

"That'll be me," Giroro decided. "You make them, then."

Kululu nodded and continued walking.

"What was Natsumi like? When she wasn't being a jerk, I mean? I... I've always really thought of her as an enemy, but now that I think about it, there must have been something nice about her if Mois became friends with her." Kululu finally steered the conversation to Natsumi, forgiving her only a little bit for being so close to Mois's heart.

"She was strong, determined... misguided, at first, about Keronians, but I believe she learned. We were friends for a time before I learned she was a princess. Anybody who hurt someone close to her would die. She always wanted to protect those close to her heart..." Giroro explained.

She sounded like a nice girl. A girl who would help Mois when he could not.

"Maybe... Maybe you better return to her, then..." Kululu suggested. "I... I always hated her because of her hatred toward Keronians, but if she's changed, then there's no more reason for me to seek revenge against her. I already killed the people who wronged me, I suppose."

His revenge had already been granted. He didn't really have a purpose any longer. But Giroro did, Giroro was confused about how Natsumi felt about him and now was doing something stupid.

_When Mois wakes up, she'll be mad about what I did to Natsumi... I probably should right those wrongs. _Kululu quickly made the explosives that were necessary to blow up the monsters at the bottom. They would break if not triggered at the exact right moment a moment before they hit the bottom. Somebody would need to jump in.

"You belong with Natsumi... don't you?" Kululu asked. "Ku. Idiots always get their happy endings."

"Natsumi doesn't like me," Giroro told him. "I'm a Keronian."

"Did she say she wasn't interested anymore after learning your true identity? No? I thought not. You're an idiot. Look... If anybody's jumping in that pit, it should probably be me. Even if I do somehow survive this trip, I'll be taken out of power of both my kingdoms and executed now that I've handed things back to Koyuki. My drive for revenge has ended. I have no more purpose, so let me jump in instead. Go back to Natsumi," Kululu ordered.

Giroro was shocked that his life wouldn't be the one lost.

"B-but... Natsumi and I... We aren't going to happen..." he insisted.

"Sure you will. It's more likely than me _not_ being executed when I return. I've done a lot of wrong things, Giroro. Maybe it's finally time to stop that," he figured. "Go out with a bang."

Giroro frowned, because he knew Kululu was right. "F-fine..." He turned away, not wanting to see Kululu burst into little pieces.

Kululu attached the bombs to his body and held the remote. He then jumped into the hole in the mountain and fell down to the pit.

_Bye... _He was just about to trigger the bombs, when he was grabbed from above.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Mois held onto her floating spear as if it was a broom and held onto Kululu. She desperately pulled him up onto the spear and flew back to the cliffside where Giroro and now Natsumi were.

"Huh?" Giroro looked around. Mois glared at Kululu for being such a stupid.

"Mois...? You're... back?" Kululu was super confused.

"Look... Finding them is nice and all, but we're standing right next to a giant breeding pit... that spits out monsters." Natsumi pointed out. "What are we going to do about that?"

"I got this," Mois answered.

"Wait... There's no reason that you have do this!" Kululu thought she was going off with the bombs herself.

"Sure there is. I want to test my new power! Evacuate the mountain. It feels like you should... Like it's natural." She smiled and flew back down to the pit.

"MOIS!" Kululu yelled for a moment before the mountain started shaking. The three evacuated it like they had been told, and soon enough, the entire mountain was gone.

Mois had collapsed it with her spear, saving everybody from the Four Kingdoms without hurting herself.

She flew back to them, completely unscathed.

"Mois..." Kululu looked at her and discarded the explosives from himself. His plan had worked. She had awoken... rather quickly, but still, she was awake.

She glared at him. "What were you thinking, jumping into that breeding pit? You would have exploded if I hadn't been there!" She punched him repeatedly in the chest.

Natsumi and Giroro could only helplessly watch at the onslaught.

"I kind of like this revenge he's getting now, although I'm confused by it," Natsumi admitted. Then she gasped. "You!" She pointed to Giroro. "How can you be so stupid? First, you're like you aren't my friend and get rid of me, then you leave me alone at a dance and then you go to this land just to avoid me! What the heck?"

Giroro started sweating as he received his own share of yelling.

"I... I was trying to redeem myself..." Kululu explained to Mois. "I assumed if I went back to the Kingdoms, I'd be executed for all my war crimes, so it wouldn't really make a difference if I died on my terms or not..."

"You wouldn't be killed in my kingdom!" Mois defended. "I would have let you live, because I don't care if you're evil or good. I love you just the way you are!"

"Wh-what...?" Kululu blushed.

"I heard what you said to me after you kissed me, Kululu," she told him. Kululu blushed even more. "It's what woke me up, you know." Instead of punching him, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thanks for waking me up."

A magical glow surrounded Kululu, and he, too, begin to shrink. Soon the handsome pretty boy reverted back into an ugly yellow frog, just as his curse foretold.

"Crap! I mean... I didn't like being a pretty boy, but it had its uses!" Kululu frowned. He had just found love and now it was sure to leave.

Mois smiled. "Is this what you really look like?"

"He's... He's a Keronian?" Giroro was confused.

Kululu nodded.

Mois kissed him on the nose. "I like you a lot in this form. It just seems more real." She kissed him again, causing him to smile.

She really was perfect.

"I'm not forgiving you as easily." Natsumi narrowed her eyes and looked at Giroro. "You discarded me three times! And you never told me you were Giroro!"

Giroro started to sweat again.

"But... I want you to know, I don't care if you're a Keronian or not, or poor, or whatever prevented you from telling me you loved me back in the forest. I suppose I'll forgive you if you help me take back my kingdom and become my knight..." Natsumi winked at him, knowing it was his dream to be the first Keronian knight.

"So... You are forgiving me?" Giroro was confused.

"Heck, no. You're going to work hard for your position. But someday, if you work hard enough, maybe you'll even become the next king... After all, I was in love with you too." She smiled at him.

Giroro melted. He leaned in to kiss her, and she, happy that she had found him again, allowed him to give her a quick kiss, but only a quick one.

And they all returned home.

* * *

In the following years, many things changed. Anti-keronian laws were near non-existent, since two of the Kingdoms now had Keronian kings.

Kululu gave back both of the kingdoms he had conquered and settled into the Kingdom of Justice. Although Natsumi, Giroro, Dororo, Koyuki, Fuyuki, and Momoka barely forgave him, they didn't trouble him, due to fear and wanting to stay on Mois's good side. Natsumi even tried to forgive him, since he was now her best friend's husband.

The four princesses reigned supremely over their kingdoms once again. They all seemed to become interlinked in friendship.

Giroro eventually earned Natsumi's forgiveness, and they were finally wed.

And everybody remained peaceful and happy now that the threat of monsters were gone.


End file.
